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' CLENDENEN’S 
DETECTIVE 
MANUAL/ 


How to Become a 
Successful Detective 


RUFUS H. CLENDENEN 
CHARLESTON, W. VA. 


Copright 1922 J 
by Rufus H. Clendenen 

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LOVETT PRINTING COMPANY PRESS 
CHARLESTON, W. VA, 






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APR 17 1922 
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Rufus H. Clendenen 














INTRODUCTION 


Of all the characters that come into the minds of 
writers, there is probably none that has been so 
thoroughly dramatic as the detective, unless it should 
he the crook with whom the detective deals. 

The deeds of the underworld have a fascination 
for the most of us, and the detective who finds his 
way into them by the golden thread of his ingenious¬ 
ness and unravels them, in our mind is the hero of 
romance and the guardian of the law abiding pub¬ 
lic. He reveals the mystery, apprehends or arrests 
and assists in the conviction of those who are re¬ 
garded as the worst enemies of society. 

To my mind, as well as thousands of others, the 
detection of crime and the “hunt” for the criminal 
is one of the most fascinating callings in which a 
man can engage. I believe I am safe in saying that 
every man has a desire, something within him calling 
out, to try and unravel some mysterious crime. 

This work is based upon careful study of the 
highest recognized authorities on the subject. Its 
purpose is to present in a clear, connected and 
forcible manner the knowledge obtained from twenty- 
two years in the detective profession. 

It is hoped that this treatise may satisfy the most 
thoughtful and experienced officers and that it may 
be also of special interest and profit to the new be¬ 
ginner, the more experienced officers and members 
of police departments. 



6 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


The story section deals with actual facts and ex¬ 
periences in the mountains of West Virginia. 

This being a book of facts and recounting some 
of my experiences in the detective profession, I sin¬ 
cerely hope that it will meet with the approval of 
all officers of the law and have a full reading from 
that portion of the public who are interested in per¬ 
plexing problems dealing with the underworld of 
crime. 

Respectfully, 

RUFUS H. CLENDENEN. 


Chapter I. 


The Detective Profession in Full. 


The detection of crime, and consequent pursuit 
and apprehension of the criminal, is one of the 
most fascinating vocations in which men engage. 

At least once in every normal man’s lifetime there 
comes the desire to engage in unraveling mysterious 
crimes. At least seventy-five per cent of the Ameri¬ 
can people are inclined to attempt to unravel some 
mysterious matter at some time. The motives which 
lead men to become detectives may be a desire for 
personal glory, to win the rich rewards which are 
often offered for the arrest and conviction of some 
criminal, or simply the love of the chase, which is 
so deeply rooted in every real man’s makeup. While 
every man may desire to become a detective, but few 
men are really fitted to succeed in a calling which 
demands so many qualities, both natural and ac¬ 
quired. 

So many young men who are not educated make 
the mistake of their life by taking a correspondence 
course in some detective school which furnishes him 
with a little tin badge, a diploma, a card of intro¬ 
duction and a large quantity of worthless literature. 
These men I term “badge flashers” and “five-dollar 
detectives”. In my office in the City of Charleston, 
West Virginia, you will find a sign over my door 
which reads as follows: 



8 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


“NOTICE: ‘Badge Flashers’ and ‘$5.00 De¬ 
tectives’, who are trained men, save yonr 
time. We cannot use yon. (Signed) The 
Clendenin Detective System.” 

To he a detective, a man need not possess the 
physical qualifications which would fit him to meet 
the requirements of a patrolman or police officer. 
Many of the city detectives are recruited from the 
ranks of the patrolman and police officers, but there 
are many others who step directly into the ranks. 
While physical standards are more elastic than for 
patrolmen, they are rigid in this regard that ex¬ 
treme types are not wanted. The man who is very 
tall or very short attracts attention easily. 

Any defect such as lameness, facial disfigurement, 
defect of speech, or eccentricity of manner provide 
an inseparable bar to success for the would-be de¬ 
tective, especially in police work; in private work 
these defects are not so material. The physically 
normal are best fitted to avoid attracting attention. 
Many absurd notions prevail about the detective 
makeup, such as the ability to assume numerous dis¬ 
guises and impersonate numerous characters. 
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The best 
of all disguises is no disguise at all, but simply the 
ability to go quietly about one’s business without re¬ 
vealing to onlookers what that business is. “The 
Old Sleuth”, “Nick Carter”, “Old King Brady”, 
“Diamond Dick”, “Pluck and Luck”, and all five 
and ten cent detective story books make interesting 
reading, but the real detective who would attempt 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 9 


to use such methods would be laughed at as much 
by the underworld as by his fellow officers. Physi¬ 
cal fitness is not the only qualification of the suc¬ 
cessful detective. He must have stability of moral 
character which will withstand the severest tests. 
He must be not only “as honest as the day is long” 
but also as honest as the night is longer. His word 
must be as good as his bond. A reputation for abso¬ 
lute honesty is acquired only by the sternest ad¬ 
herence to the principles of a square deal. Tempta¬ 
tions to dishonesty are almost daily occurrences in 
the detective’s life. It is a common practice for de¬ 
tected criminals to offer bribes for immunity from 
arrest. It is common knowledge in some cities that 
gambling houses, houses of prostitution, moonshin- 
ing dens and bootlegging joints set aside a regular 
per cent of their earnings for the police. The young 
beginner or an experienced officer who once accepts 
a bribe for evading his plain duty can no longer lay 
claim to the title of an honest man. People who 
commit the above depredations are as thoroughly 
organized as the officers whose duty is to apprehend 
them, and when an officer accepts a bribe from any 
•of these clansmen he must thereafter protect them 
or any of their associates. 

Such acts are cumulative in their effects, leading 
eventually to almost inevitable exposure, arrest, con¬ 
viction and disgrace. The awful and, in one sense, 
pitiable example given by Lieutenant Becker of the 
New York Police Force, should be sufficient to warn 
the young beginner of falling into these pitfalls or 
taking his first dishonest step. 


10 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


A reputation for truthfulness is another essential 
of a man who wishes to rise in the detective profes¬ 
sion. Very often the prosecuting attorney depends 
almost wholly upon the evidence given by the de¬ 
tective for a conviction, and if the detective’s - ver¬ 
acity is questioned it leads invariably to acquittal, 
where, on the other hand, a conviction could have 
been had. Judges and juries are quick to detect the 
shifty, evasive manner of the man who is not tellnig 
the truth. Witnesses who are intimidated through 
fear of retaliation must be convinced of the relia¬ 
bility of the officer who has promised protection. 

Even criminals are more apt to yield peacefully 
to the man who is known as a man of his word. 
Last, but not least, the man above soon learns upon 
whom he may rely and keeps that man in mind 
when there is a vacancy higher up. 

A little reflection will convince anyone that sobri¬ 
ety is one of the essentials of success. The tempta¬ 
tion to drink, to associate with lewd women and to 
frequent such dives, to mingle with the boys in a 
social round of drinks, and to be known as “a good 
fellow” gives one a strong hand with enemies of 
the underworld only; but to succeed as an officer of 
the law, this must be resisted. One need not be a 
temperance crank, inflicting his views upon others 
and all comers, but the detective, must of all men be 
ever on the alert, quick to think and act. He must 
keep his vision clear and his brain unclouded by all 
drugs and liquors. 

The detective must ibe a constant student if he in¬ 
tends to rise in his profession. He is often pitted 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 11 


against men who have made crime a study and a pro¬ 
fession, and many of the criminal class are men who 
have occupied high places. The officer must be able 
to meet all classes and conditions of men upon a 
common level. It is easy to imitate the man below, 
but difficult to mingle with the upper class if you 
are not fitted by education to meet them on a com¬ 
mon level. The really dangerous criminal is the 
one who is educated. Many of them are graduates 
of colleges and universities. Some of them move in 
excellent society. The detective in his profession 
must be able to mingle with the masses and all 
classes. A knowledge of music, art, literature, the 
natural sciences and mathematics are of great worth 
to the aspiring detective. The ordinary officer who 
plods along in others’ footsteps may be honest, sober 
and truthful, but he will never rise until he looks 
upon his profession as a science to be thoroughly 
studied and understood. 

It is very essential to his success that he have an 
elementary knowledge of toxic chemistry, electricity 
and surgery. He must have a thorough knowledge 
of explosives, firearms and the tools peculiar to the 
profession of burglars. There are numerous quali¬ 
ties for the successful detective, such as unquestioned 
loyalty, the deference to superiors, obedience, neat¬ 
ness, pride, courtesy to inferior as well as superior, 
unlimited patience, attention to detail and that 
elusive quality, manliness. Space forbids a complete 
discussion of these qualities, therefore, we shall be¬ 
gin the discussion of the more technical assets of the 
detective profession. 


12 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


What constitutes a crime? When does a man or 
woman cross the line and become liable to arrest? 

The laws of states and nations vary widely in re¬ 
gard to lesser crimes, but the more important crimes 
are similar under the laws of all civilized nations. 
Minor offenses may be illegal in one country and 
allowed in another. The detective must be con¬ 
versant with the laws of his state and nation and 
also have a general knowledge of the laws of all 
nations. 

The major crimes are classified as offenses against 
the person, such as assault, rape, homicide; offenses 
against security of peace and property, such as arson, 
blackmail, extortion, larceny, burglary, robbery; and 
offenses against the state and public morals, such as 
anarchy, adultery, bigamy, bribery and perjury. 

Arson is one of the most difficult crimes in which 
to secure a conviction for the reason that the evi¬ 
dence is usually destroyed. Evidence must be se¬ 
cured which will prove that there really was a fire 
and that it was planned. 

Assault may be felonious or simple. Simple as¬ 
sault may be left to the patrolman. Felonious as¬ 
saults are generally qualified by the words “with in¬ 
tent to kill”, and as such are serious. The weapon 
with which the assault was committed is an extreme¬ 
ly important bit of evidence and should be secured 
and identified in the presence of witnesses if possible. 

Rape is a crime for the police to handle and vio¬ 
lations of the “Mann Act” are generally handled 
by Federal officers of long experience. 

Bigamy is a case for the detective, as the gather- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 13 


ing of evidence of a former marriage must generally 
be secured in a different locality from that in which 
the crime was committed. Evidence consists of 
proof of a former marriage, proof of identity and 
proof that there has not been a divorce. 

The crime of blackmail is becoming of great im¬ 
portance because of the nation-wide operations of 
organized gangs. Securing evidence is made more 
difficult because of the reticence of the victim. Close 
and clever shadowing of the suspected person is 
necessary in order to secure evidence. It is in se¬ 
curing evidence against blackmailers that the “ Third 
Degree” is partially justified, as a confession from 
one of the gang is of prime importance. 

Bribery is one of the most common crimes. Evi¬ 
dence consists of marked money used, eye witnesses, 
dictagraph records and flash photographs of the act 
itself. Pre-knowledge of the crime is essential or 
evidence cannot be secured. 

Larceny, robbery and burglary are crimes which 
call for considerable experience in the securing of 
evidence. Pawn shops and “Fences” must be 
watched constantly. Safe burglars are the worst of 
the lot, exceeding in importance even the “Dutch 
House Men”. They have many tricks never used by 
house men. The detective must become faipiliar with 
the tricks of the regulars and must distinguish the 
professional from the amateur job at a glance. 
Burglars generally stick to one phase of burglary 
and may easily be known by some personal peculiar¬ 
ity of operation. Loft, store, store window, house, 
flat, bank or office thieves are each a study of them- 


14 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


selves and not to be confused. The detective must 
become familiar with the various tools used by bur¬ 
glars and the manner of their use. 

Homicide—“to kill by act, by procurement or by 
omission 9 ’—furnishes one of the most frequent cases 
for the detective bureau. In homicide cases it is 
absolutely essential that the identity of the body be 
established. The “Corpus Delicti” must be estab¬ 
lished. The clothing of the victim is often of prime 
importance. If a pistol was used, empty shells and 
the ball or balls are evidence. If possible an ante¬ 
mortem statement should be secured. The position 
of the body, furniture, etc., must be noted that you 
may be able to paint a verbal picture of the crime. 
Do not become disheartened if a clue does not prove 
right when followed. Scotland Yard men succeed 
often because of their bulldog tenacity, the Swiss 
because of their patiently minute measurements; the 
Germans because of their rigid classification of all 
citizens and strangers; the French because of their 
brilliancy of deduction, and the American because 
he uses all of their methods supplemented by native 
shrewdness and observation. 

Evidence may be direct, cumulative, circumstantial 
or hearsay. The detective should make a careful 
study of these forms and their importance in order 
that sufficient evidence to convict may be secured. 
A careful study of the evidence given at important 
trials will aid greatly in determining the im¬ 
portance of evidence. The Thaw case, the Leo Frank 
case, the Marion Lambert case and others of like im¬ 
portance should be carefully studied as they are re- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 15 


plete with valuable pointers in the securing of re¬ 
liable evidence. 

In securing evidence it will often be found that 
witnesses will talk freely under the influence of ex¬ 
citement but become more and more uncommunicative 
when the excitement wears off. Witnesses at times 
fear revenge, injury to business or notoriety; it is 
the detective’s duty to inspire confidence in the 
timid witness. The officer must be possessed of in¬ 
finite patience and tact in order to get at the real 
facts. A brusque, harsh, intimidating manner rare¬ 
ly succeeds in getting witnesses to tell the whole 
truth. Little things must not be overlooked. Often 
things unimportant in themselves become of prime 
importance when they become one link in a chain 
of evidence. The best way to arrange the evidence 
is to keep a memorandum book in which is set down 
the points as discovered, then at your leisure you 
can arrange your facts and get their relative bear¬ 
ings on the case in point. Under these headings may 
come facts bearing upon the victim’s life history, 
family affairs, time of the assault, weapon used, eye 
witnesses, if there be any, and any suggestive fea¬ 
tures of the case which have a bearing on the crimi¬ 
nal’s identity. Deduction and observation are the 
twin aids in the unraveling of crime. 

What powers of arrest have the detective? A war¬ 
rant is always sufficient power but a warrant can¬ 
not always be procured in time. The detective has 
the following powers of summary arrest: 

1. For a crime committed or attempted 
in his presence. 


16 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


2. When the person arrested has com¬ 
mitted a felony, although not in his presence* 

3. When a felony has in fact been com¬ 
mitted and he has reasonable cause for be¬ 
lieving the person arrested to have committed 
it. 


4. A non-resident may be arrested for a 
crime committed out of the state on receipt 
of a telegram from the authorities of the place 
where the crime was committed. 

When the officer’s attention is called to the com¬ 
mission of a crime he must act quickly. It is not 
possible to consult a reference in regard to the 
powers of arrest. The detective must know the limi¬ 
tations of his powers and must be careful not to go 
beyond them. Every person must be informed of 
the reason for his arrest unless he is arrested in the 
actual commission of a crime or after a chase im¬ 
mediately following. Whenever the officer is per¬ 
mitted to make an arrest he is permitted to use 
sufficient force to effect it. Brutal methods, how¬ 
ever, are frowned upon by the courts. Fugitives 
from justice may be arrested for a crime committed 
in another state if such a crime is punishable in the 
state where the arrest is made. Detective depart¬ 
ments of states and nations are usually glad to co¬ 
operate in the apprehension of criminals. 

Crimes like homicide, arson, burglary, etc., are as 
old as the world but new developments of civilization 
bring with them new crimes and new types of crimi¬ 
nals. Piracy is an extremely old crime but train 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 17 

robberies were unheard of until trains began to 
run. 

Civilization has become too complex for such hard 
riding bandits as the James Boys or the Dalton 
Gang to flourish, but a newer and more dangerous 
type has arisen in the automobile bandit. The 
Apaches of Paris took to the automobile like a duck 
to water. Bold and daring criminals of the United 
States were quick to see the advantages of the auto¬ 
mobile in committing crime. By its use a safe may 
be cracked in the country bank and before morning 
the robbers be secure in some city miles away, leav¬ 
ing no trace behind them. The best trained blood¬ 
hound is helpless when put upon the trail of the 
auto. Here is a chance for the ambitious detective to 
win name and fame for himself by devising some 
means for pursuing and identifying the automobile 
bandit. 

Criminals have always kept just a little ahead of 
the men who make a business of detecting and pre¬ 
venting crime. Safe manufacturers are kept on their 
mettle to devise a safe which is really burglar- 
proof. The cracksmen generally laugh at their ef¬ 
forts. The criminal is quick to make use of new in¬ 
ventions. He readily discards his “can opener” and 
bottle of “soup” for the quieter and more efficient, 
electric machine which eats through the heaviest, 
steel door with neatness and dispatch. The Maxim 
Silencer and the automatic pistol were quickly 
adopted by the criminal class. The small fry such 
as the “dip”, the “moll buzzer” and package thief 
may be left to the tender mercies of the precinct 


18 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


man but the really efficient detective must equip 
himself to engage in a battle of wits with criminals 
who make crimes a profession. He must keep abreast 
of the times, he must be cognizant of all the newer 
tricks of the criminal class and must find means to 
circumvent them. It is not sufficient to be as ef¬ 
ficient as the other fellows—he must be more efficient. 
His work must stand in a class by itself. 

He who would engage in the calling of the de¬ 
tective, in any one of its various phases, must be 
content to begin at the bottom and work his way up¬ 
ward by means of unremitting study and observation. 
He must possess a multitude of qualifications if he 
wishes to rise in his profession. He must be able 
to write reports which are models of neatness, ac¬ 
curacy and brevity. He is expected to know as 
much law as the lawyer, as much medicine and sur¬ 
gery as the doctor, as much chemistry as the chemist, 
as much psyhology as the psychologist, as much sci¬ 
ence as the scientist. Above all other special knowl¬ 
edge he must know men. He must be able to best 
the gambler at his own game. Poker, faro, roulette, 
crap and stud are easy picking for the trained man. 
He must be familiar with the back rooms of saloons 
and the various and somewhat devious methods of the 
liquor dealers without himself becoming an habitual 
drinker. He must co-operate with the various city 
departments in maintaining law and order without 
becoming mixed in the schemes of the petty poli¬ 
ticians who infest those departments. He must be 
familiar with the location and activities of the 
houses of prostitution without becoming morally 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 19 


corrupt. He must be stern without becoming brutal, 
be well read without becoming a book worm, be 
moral and sober without being a reformer, be good 
without becoming “good for nothing ” by being too 
good, be athletic without developing muscle at the 
expense of mind, and be a mixer without becoming 
a loafer. He must be possessed of the cardinal vir¬ 
tues of honesty, truthfulness, sobriety and patience, 
and supplement the negative virtues with the posi¬ 
tive ones of physical fitness, mental alertness, extra¬ 
ordinary powers of observation, facility in rapid de¬ 
duction, ability to identify the various types of crimi¬ 
nals at a glance and complete familiarity with the 
various modes of operation of the criminal class. 

The history of the detection of crime contains 
amazingly few names of detectives who have dis¬ 
tinguished themselves because of their discoveries or 
inventions. Of living detectives in the United 
States, William J. Burns and W. A. Pinkerton are 
the only ones who have achieved greatness, the 
former having been recently appointed by President 
Harding as Chief of the United States Secret Ser¬ 
vice. Pinkerton achieved greatness more because of 
his executive ability than because of his ability in 
apprehending criminals. Burns has not used sensa¬ 
tional methods but has reached his present high 
place because of his ability to read the souls of men. 

I* have set a high mark, but it should not dis¬ 
courage the man ambitious to succeed. Success is 
not won in a single day. Success is the result of 
long years of patient endeavor and is reached more 
often through strenuous striving than through na- 


20 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


tive ability. The man who is bound to succeed can¬ 
not be kept down. He will carve name and fame 
for himself in spite of the greatest obstacles. 










Chapter II. 


Preliminary Generalities. 

To enumerate all that a competent detective should 
know, would be to say that he should know every¬ 
thing. But as this is impossible, a man or woman 
desiring to engage in this interesting and lucrative 
profession should at least acquire as general a knowl¬ 
edge of things as possible. 

The pursuit of the profession itself, I have found, 
affords multitudinous opportunities for learning, and 
as each new case undertaken generally involves dif¬ 
ferent circumstances, no better field for broadening 
the mind or enriching a person’s experience can be 
found. 

A detective, once he becomes qualified to act as 
such, is thrown in contact with all manner of life 
and conditions, and what experience he necessarily 
gains in one case is frequently of much value to him 
in attempting the solution of another. 

In my personal experience, and from my wide ac¬ 
quaintance among detectives, I have found that the 
greatest asset a person engaged in this line of ac¬ 
tivity can possess is close observation and deduction. 

Men and women are engaged in all lines of activ¬ 
ity, and among these is to be found the professional 
thief. The professional thief, and this may be a 
woman as well as a man, devotes as much time and 
studious effort to crime as professional persons in 
other walks of life devote to their respective occu¬ 
pations. 

In this country, as well as other countries, during 


22 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


the past few years there has developed many different 
criminal societies. Frequently these societies and 
their members are known to the police and detective 
agencies, but it is not always easy to capture them. 

The ideals of professional criminals are quite the 
opposite of what is usually supposed. They admire 
cleverness and skill but despise violence,—the forger 
or swindler commands their respect while they scorn 
the yeggman or ‘ ‘ gorilla ’ ’ as they term all those who 
commit crimes of violence. These ideals give rise 
to the idea of caste or social position among them, 
the counterfeiter,' swindler and forger being placed 
at the top, while the burglar and highway robber 
are at the bottom. They are scrupulously careful to 
do nothing to disgrace themselves and lose caste in 
the eyes of their comrades. Thus a pickpocket would 
never commit a highway robbery, or a forger stoop 
to commit a burglary. Generally they practice at 
some particular type of crime until they become ex¬ 
pert at it and seldom change or attempt anything 
outside of their own line. They consider it bad 
taste to kill anyone unless in cases of absolute neces¬ 
sity, but an exception must be made to this among 
the more desperate element of yeggmen, who seem 
to consider it an honor to kill an officer of the law, 
especially one in uniform; and they will sometimes, 
but not often, go out of their way to kill an officer 
and thus acquire glory in the eyes of their com¬ 
rades. The aversion of the more intelligent crooks 
to violence is probably to some extent due to the fact 
that it is not profitable and aggravates the offense, 
insuring a longer term in prison if caught. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 23 

A professional thief, as a rule, generally confines 
his or her criminal operations to some one particu¬ 
lar line of activity. Pickpockets or “ dips’’ as they 
are known in police parlance, have no thought of 
robbing houses or turning burglars. A safe blower 
looks down upon the common highwayman, while 
the latter considers his occupation far more digni¬ 
fied than that of the yegg. 

A professional forger is usually a drug fiend and 
considers 'himself too clever to associate with a ‘ ‘ sec¬ 
ond story worker”. A *‘confidence man” has no 
respect for the “ penny weighter”. The latter, it 
might be said, is the description given to diamond 
sneak thieves anld their methods will be explained 
later. 

In addition to the individual professional crook, 
the police of all larger cities must deal with what is 
known as crook organizations. Frequently as many 
as fifty or more thieves will be identified in a series 
of bold robberies, and so cleverly is this organization 
effected that it is almost impossible to obtain evi¬ 
dence indicting “the men higher up”. 

For instance, the coming of the automobile has 
resulted in an organized system of thievery. Thou¬ 
sands of automobiles are stolen* every year in this 
country. The cars are taken apart, reassembled, and 
finally the altered product is sold by some apparent¬ 
ly reputable dealer. 

This business of stealing automobiles by organized 
gangs of crooks has assumed gigantic proportions 
within the last few years. Although the police every¬ 
where have made many arrests, yet cars are being 
stolen daily. 


24 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


This system is one of the most elaborate ever 
adopted by professional thieves. One man is singled 
out to steal an automobile and he is" instructed as to 
what kind of a car to steal. For this he generally 
receives $50.00 or whatever price may be agreed 
upon. 

He steals the car and turns it over to a second 
person. The second thief drives the machine to 
some other city and there delivers it to a third per¬ 
son who has been designated to receive it, and who 
is probably unknown to the first two thieves. 

Thus exchanges are made from one party to an¬ 
other, a small financial transaction taking place each 
time, until the car finally arrives at an assembling 
plant or garage where the owner acts as a “fence”. 
Here the car is take apart, all the parts are changed 
around and with parts from other cars it is assem¬ 
bled again, re-painted and placed on the market as a 
second-hand machine. 

The final destination of the stolen automobile is 
generally not known to the thief who originally 
stole it. All he knows is that a certain person paid 
him $50.00 for the automobile and what became of 
the car after that is usually of no interest to him. 
The second thief perhaps knows that he received 
$100.00 for the same car from a third person, and 
there his interest ceases. 

It is because that the majority of professional 
thieves confine their operations to some one partciu- 
lar line that the detective soon learns to associate 
the commission of a certain criminal act with a cer¬ 
tain criminal or gang of crooks. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 25 


My experience has taught me that reformatories 
generally do not reform young men, correction houses 
do not correct men and penitentiaries do not make 
men penitent. I am speaking now of the professional 
crook. Society does not build these institutions to 
punish those who violate the laws, but to protect 
society from the operations of this gentry. 

A short term in prison for the average crook is 
only a part of the game. Immediately upon his re¬ 
lease he again resumes the old criminal method in 
trying to get a living. I have never been able to 
understand why a professional crook will devote so 
much time, thought and study in the commission of 
a crime for a certain competence it is to bring him, 
when the same amount of effort and labor spent in 
an honest direction would result in ten-fold bene¬ 
fit. The professional crook is a menace to society 
and the detective is the bulwark to stand between 
the thief and society, protecting the latter from the 
many schemes devised by the criminal who foolishly 
imagines his futile efforts will get him something 
for nothing. No matter how clever the thief may 
be, sooner or later he is caught in the toils of the 
law. The legal machinery grinds relentlessly. The 
more intelligent the thief the greater will be his 
suffering. All professional crooks acknowledge that 
they make interesting reading, that in the long run 
it does not pay to commit crime. 

In my own experience among detectives I can re¬ 
call many cases wherein it would have been possible 
to lay hands on the real offender, but not having 
sufficient evidence it was impossible to take criminal 


26 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


action, and the guilty persons sometimes take this 
advantage and are never apprehended. 

But all skilled detectives bide their time. They 
know that sooner or later the man whom they, want 
will “slip a cog” and they will apprehend him, con¬ 
vict and send him to the penitentiary. 

The commission of any criminal act sets in motion 
all the human forces to uncover the culprit and 
bring him to justice. These forces are working con¬ 
stantly in every civilized country on the globe. 

Police departments and detective agencies every¬ 
where co-operate. They are in one gigantic com¬ 
bine to run to earth the evil doer. Woe betide the 
man, woman or organization that seeks to continue 
criminal operations. 

In the past ten years there have been many won¬ 
derful and startling changes in the methods of crooks 
and persons of the underworld. The old time bur¬ 
glar with his dark lantern and gun has practically 
passed away. Burglaries nowadays, for the most 
part, are committed by young men or boys who act 
impulsively or on the suggestion of evil minded com¬ 
panions. The highwayman at the present time is 
very active, due somewhat to the conditions of our 
country. The streets of all large cities are so well 
patrolled and economic conditions have become so 
changed that the field of operations for the high¬ 
wayman is very limited. 

Then, again, the offense is punishable by so severe 
a sentence in a state prison, and the danger of being 
caught is so great, that the professional crook pre¬ 
fers to devote his efforts to less hazardous crimes. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 27 


The professional crook, I have found, is the one who 
.steals money, or that which can easily be converted 
into money. Only the occasional thief or petty crook 
bother with stealing articles the disposition of which 
might prove difficult. Every professional thief real¬ 
izes that nothing is worth stealing unless it can be 
easily and readily converted into cash without fear 
of detection. The man or woman who steals any 
article of value and carries it to the nearest pawn 
shop in the hope of realizing a little ready cash, 
might just as well walk into police headquarters af¬ 
ter committing a theft and make a full confes¬ 
sion. There is a law in most states making it com¬ 
pulsory for the owner of a pawn shop to co-operate 
with the detective and police departments in all 
their daily transactions. The pawn broker is too wise 
to permit his license to become revoked or to be 
haled into court on a charge of receiving stolen 
goods. 

The pawn broker makes a mental note of every 
person who would do business with him, and to the 
detective and police divulges any valuable informa¬ 
tion that he may have. In some large cities pawn 
brokers are furnished with a list describing stolen 
articles, and there is an electrical sign or signal 
connected from the store to police headquarters to 
be used in an emergency. 


Chapter III. 

Elementary Principles. 

There is perhaps a greater demand for experienced 
detectives today than ever has been in the history of 
this country. That class of persons who seek to ob¬ 
tain a livelihood in violating the law, is constantly 
growing larger, and it is upon the detective, and the 
police department of the country that society must 
depend for protection from this menacing element. 

In taking up detective work as a business in life, 
I would advise persons interested in this profession 
to first acquire some of the elementary principles. 
The young man or woman who hopes to make a suc¬ 
cess as a detective must learn something of the 
effect and cause. Every effect has its cause and 
while the cause of many effects is apparent, the de¬ 
tective often finds a situation the real cause of which 
is not self-evident. When I start out to conduct an 
investigation, the first thing I try is to determine 
the cause. That is, I try to ascertain a theory for 
the action. There must have been some motive for 
the offense, assuming, of course, it was committed 
by a normal, sane person. 

Every crime presents some moral features that are 
intrinsic and essential. Such a feature is motive. 
“Who benefits by this crime V’ is the first thing to 
be asked. This first step will eliminate many ^per¬ 
sons. The second clue should be found by answering 
the question. ‘ ‘ Who had sufficient knowledge to 
commit the crime V* For instance, in a burglary 
where jewels or money are taken, the existence of 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 29 


which was known only to certain people. Thus many 
crimes are classified as inside jobs or outside jobs, 
meaning that some one inside the house committed 
the crime or that the evidence showed that someone 
entered the house from without. 

Another point to be looked into is the character 
of the crime itself. Some crimes require real skill, 
such as forgery, bank robbery or counterfeiting. In 
this instance a knowledge of criminals and their 
peculiarities of work is essential to the detective 
and this knowledge is supplied only by experience. 

The radius of action is another feature that calls 
for attention. This means that only people within a 
certain distance could have committed the crime, 
and all those outside that boundary can be elimi¬ 
nated. The proof of an alibi is the most simple 
counter to the detective. 

A final caution must be given. Good judgment 
must be used in weighing the relative value of clues 
and the detective must not be too easily misled by 
appearances. Every claim must be tested and every 
physical fact .must be verified. Where arrests are 
made the stories told by different suspects must be 
minutely examined and checked up, not only with 
other stories told, but also with physical facts of the 
case. For example, whether a door is locked on the 
inside or on the outside; whether glass that is broken 
falls to the inside or to the outside, whether blows 
can be struck from certain angles. The position of 
bullet marks on the walls, and a thousand other de¬ 
tails must be carefully weighed, compared and classi¬ 
fied before accurate deductions can be drawn. 


30 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Reconstruction is the greatest method of detec¬ 
tion. While this involves, to a great extent, the cre¬ 
ative imagination, it is, nevertheless, based upon a 
most minute collection of facts and cold experience 
in assigning them their proper places. While some 
great geniuses may be able to attain results by in¬ 
tuitive processes, it is a fact that practically all 
cases are solved by close observation, by common 
sense, by persistency and by understanding the 
meaning of evidence. 

A final rule of universal application should be 
noted, and that is, the detective should always choose 
the most probable and least extravagant hypothesis 
to work upon. He should base his reasoning upon 
the common facts of human nature and the common 
occurrences of physical events, rather than be led 
away into fantastic suppositions by many points that 
at the same time seem mysterious and incapable of 
a rational explanation. 


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Chapter IV. 


Origin of Criminals. 

The normally intelligent person is not given to 
crime; the riff-raff and flotsam and jetsam of society 
is more apt to be criminally inclined than others. 
Pauperism, bad associates, gambling, drinking, the 
use of drugs, such as morphine, cocaine, etc., are 
causes leading to crime. The pauper criminal is 
generally known as a tramp, hobo, panhandler and 
beggar; they constitute the great majority of petty 
offenders and very seldom resort to grave crimes 
such as murder, especially murdering some one above 
their station in life, although they hold life cheaply 
among themselves and will often kill each other over 
trivial matters, depending upon their ability to es¬ 
cape through their knowledge of the country, being 
aware of the fact that the officials will not spend 
much time investigating the murder of a tramp or 
hobo. 

The knowledge of being afflicted with some incura¬ 
ble disease, such as consumption, or some physical 
defect accompanied by poverty and ignorance, will 
often drive one to crime, for the simple reason that 
they are aware of the fact that they are sufferers and 
do not value their life and liberty the same as a nor¬ 
mal man. Young men between the ages of sixteen 
and twenty-five years are the greatest offenders, es¬ 
pecially those who have the wanderlust; their lack of 
early training and home influences, coupled with 
poverty and bad associates, often drives them to 
crime. A great majority of the convicts in the peni- 


32 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


tentiaries are under thirty years of age, and after 
their discharge from some penal institution they 
gradually drift back to crime. 

The Detection of Crime —In the popular mind the 
methods of the detectives are shrouded in romance 
and mystery. Detective stories flood the country and 
the various figures that stalk through the pages of 
fiction, from “Sherlock Holmes” to the 4 ‘Thinking 
Machine” are beings of strange powers who solve 
mysterious crimes by the marvelous effects of de¬ 
ductive reasoning or by the intuition of genius. 

The truth of the matter is, that detection of 
crime is simply a skilled business and wherein the 
successful detective is simply the man who under¬ 
stands the laws governing scientific detection and 
applies them carefully to each case. Detection is 
simply a process of elimination on the one hand and 
of accumulation of possibilities on the other. 

The first step in detection is the examination of 
both the physical and moral evidences involved in 
each case. The examination of these physical and 
moral evidences furnish the detective with what 
are called clues. 

Clues —Clues are either external or internal. Ex¬ 
ternal clues have to deal with the physical aspects 
of the case, and internal clues have to deal with the 
moral aspects of the case. The detective must pro¬ 
ceed in an orderly way, and, first examine the ex¬ 
ternal clues. 

These external clues include objects that have 
been used in the perpetration of the crime and all 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 33 


objects that show any imprint of the criminal’s use; 
for example, weapons, tools, articles of clothing, foot 
prints and finger prints. The detective will there¬ 
fore carefully examine the entire locality of a crime 
to see if inanimate objects suggest the criminal. 

The science of finger prints alone is practically an 
absolute means of identification. Care should be 
taken to examine all objects for such marks. Clues 
must be examined, imprints* or weapons inspected 
carefully and the entire scene of the crime should be 
reconstructed so that each alteration in furniture, 
etc., would suggest a new method or throw light 
upon the commission of the act. Close observation 
is the first requisite to discovering clues and this 
should be done most systematically. 

The first step is to group your facts and after¬ 
wards to draw your deductions. The larger num¬ 
ber of facts you have to deal with the easier should 
be the solution of the problem, as each fact is a link 
in the chain. 

Another class of clues which is important in mur¬ 
der cases is poison. The exact poison should be de¬ 
termined by a careful analysis, and this properly 
belongs to the scientist rather than to the detective. 
Among the poisons generally used may be men- 
tioned potassium cyanide (which is the most power¬ 
ful of all), white arsenic, bichloride of mercury,, 
etc. The first step for the detective is to investigate; 
the source from which the poison is bought and this 
will infallibly lead to a strong clue against some in¬ 
dividual. 

Some cases are reported where medical science was 


34 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


called into play and the murderer used a culture of 
some virulent bacteria, simulating death from nat¬ 
ural cases. Elaborate investigation is required in 
such cases as this. 

The First Offense —First offenders are, just as the 
term implies, those not habitually given to crime. 

Their criminal acts are not due to morbidness or 
weak mindedness, but usually are the result of 
pressing circumstances and committed only after 
their powers of reasoning against the act, their abil¬ 
ity to realize their own best interest in not doing, 
their conscience and their fear of the consequences 
have been triumphed over by their inclination to do 
by the cause or motive underlying that inclination. 

Most men are at times, under the stress of circum¬ 
stances, tempted to commit crime. Usually their rea¬ 
soning will successfully oppose the idea and the 
crime remains unattempted. In cases of insufficient 
training or education, however, where powers of 
reasoning are insufficient to override the inclination 
born of the motive; where men of greater intelli¬ 
gence would have let mental and moral opposition 
down the temptation, men of the single offender 
class are wont to see only the “red” of cause and 
motive and blunder into the act. 

Take the case of any single offender, consider the 
motive underlying his act, consider his education, 
training, status of intelligence and you will find 
that the act naturally followed the circumstances 
preceding it, which formed the motive; whereas, with 
instinctive criminals, the morbid mind of the of¬ 
fender really forms the cause or motive for the 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 35 


crime, and produces a result without any direct 
bearing on preceding events, and in cases of crimes 
committed by professional criminals, the offender 
has no interest in the scene of his crime and his 
mind actuated by criminal habits makes the end to 
be gained the motive. 

Taking the first mental characteristics of the of¬ 
fender, and the circumstances surrounding him, it 
would be comparatively easy to classify the crime. 
But in most cases the detective must begin with the 
crime and from the manner of its execution and the 
circumstances leading to it the motive must be de¬ 
duced. With the motive as a working basis an actor 
must be found whose interest in the scene of the 
crime harmonizes with the motive, and also whose 
mental characteristics fit the nature of the crime and 
the manner in which it was committed. • 

We have, therefore, to consider first, what motives 
compel men to commit crimes, and second, what are 
the criminal characteristics of the human mind. 

The motives which are capable of inducing normal 
men to commit crime may be classified under three 
heads: (1) a desire for profit, (2) passion, (3) 
fear. 

The profit or gain sought may be either money, 
the possession of some coveted article or even some 
intangible end, such as freedom from circumstances 
not compatible with the offender’s desires; for in¬ 
stance, matrimonial bonds, jail sentences, etc. (In 
this latter case the act would be that of breaking 
jail, and the motive for profit would be the freedom 
sought). 


36 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Usually there is something stronger than money to 
tempt, something to augment the desire, i. e., a par¬ 
ticular use or pressing need—such as the meeting of 
debts incurred by sickness, financial troubles, high 
living or dissipation, or a desire to obtain money to 
spend on the woman (or man) with whom the of¬ 
fender is in love. 

Absolute destitution is often a sufficient motive for 
crime, but the fact is then one of self-preservation. 
Poverty alone is seldom a sufficient motive, but com¬ 
parative poverty to one accustomed to plenty is of¬ 
ten a cause of crime. Envy of those possessing 
wealth and a desire to imitate them is often the mo¬ 
tive in cases where, for instance, the profit to be de¬ 
rived becomes very great. A man who would not 
think of stealing a small amount might easily give 
way to temptation and embezzle thousands of dollars 
if the opportunity presented itself. 

In cases where the offender appropriates money to 
his own use, expecting to use it only as capital with 
which to earn more money and then pay back the 
principal without the knowledge of the owner, the 
offender does not intend to injure or defraud the 
owner and does not to so unless through financial 
losses he is unable to make the return and the 
shortage is discovered. Although there is no crimi¬ 
nal intent involved the act is then construed to be 
a crime, as a matter of public policy and to serve 
as a lesson and warning in general. 

Theft, breach of trust, embezzlement, forgery, ar¬ 
son and murder are the most ordinary crimes for 
profit. Arson for profit is the act of setting fire to 
property which has been heavily insured; first secret- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 37 


]y removing as much of the more valuable property 
as possible with a view of collecting the insurance 
on the whole. 

Murder is sometimes committed for life insurance, 
inheritance or as a means of severing an unhappy 
matrimonial bond; however, murders from the lat¬ 
ter motive are usually committed by morbid persons, 
since a normal minded person would seek some other 
means of gaining the desired end. Another motive 
for profit is that of covering the evidences of crime. 

The passions most productive of crime are anger, 
jealousy, revenge, etc. Hate may not be regarded as 
a motive of serious crime with offenders of this class, 
because hatred cannot become strong enough, except 
in a morbid mind, to serve as a motive. 

The crimes due to anger are usually crimes of vio¬ 
lence, such as assault, and although they are not 
legally considered to have criminal intent, are, never¬ 
theless, punishable to some extent. Such crimes are 
usually unpremeditated and vary in degree of vio¬ 
lence according to the tempers common to different 
races and individuals; and on these same racial and 
individual temperaments depend the extent and vio¬ 
lence of crime due directly to a motive of jealousy, 
the most common form being assault or homicide. 
The Italian, French and Spanish people are exceed¬ 
ingly jealous natured, while this trait is much less 
noticeable in English, Irish, Scotch and German 
people. Jealousy is a primitive expression and finds 
most encouragement during the period of greatest 
sexual development, between sixteen and twenty-five 
with women, and eighteen and thirty with men. 


38 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Fear of physical violence, of death, of loss either 
financial or otherwise, of punishment, exposure or 
shame, either to the offender personally or to his 
family, becomes a motive for crime and justifies all 
acts in the eyes of the offender. The law recognizes 
the instinct of self-preservation and justifies any 
act where the motive is fear of physical violence or 
death, provided the danger is immediate; however, 
where the danger is distant, the law refuses to sanc¬ 
tion the act as it provides other measures for the 
protection of the individual. 

Among the influences that determine crime, the 
most powerful are environment and association with 
respectable people. Home life is and has always been 
a great conserver of society. Every man hesitates 
to bring disgrace to his family. Therefore, when we 
find an habitual criminal, it is almost sure that he 
is without home ties. If a crime is committed by a 
highly respected man, who is bound by family ties, it 
is certain that some great need or influence ren¬ 
dered him susceptible to the crime. 

Legal restraint is another conserving force. The 
folly of using illegal means to gain an end is often¬ 
times brought home to the criminal if he stops to 
consider what will be the result of his act. A mis¬ 
taken idea of the easiest way to accomplish a pur¬ 
pose blinds a criminal to the fact that it could be 
done with less risk if done in conformity with the 
laws. It is an established fact that when there are 
laws that punish crimes adequately, the offenses of 
that particular kind are greatly diminished. White 
slavery is a well known illustration of this. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 39 


The influence of alcohol, morphine, cocaine and 
other drugs, however, render possible the perpetra¬ 
tion of many crimes. Alcohol stimulates the body 
and vicious passions of men and brings about deeds 
of violence. Drugs lead to sneaky and petty offenses, 
thievery and lying. In a very short time the users 
of drugs become habitual offenders and cannot be 
classed as “single” criminals. 


■Chapter V. 

Methods and Procedure of the Profession. 

Shadowing. —Shadowing' means to follow a person 
and note their movements and actions; what they 
do; where they go; in fact each and every move¬ 
ment. It is customary with the large detective 
agencies to start the beginner on a shadow case and 
watch the movements of the beginner by one of 
their experienced shadow men. This is done to keep 
the beginner from making a false report. Shadow¬ 
ing is a very important branch of detective work 
for the reason so many cases require this form of 
work. Most all important cases demand that some 
person or persons be shadowed, and in a large num¬ 
ber of cases that never reach the public press the 
principals have been shadowed for weeks, months, 
and sometimes for years. 

In shadowing a person, keep your mind on your 
subject all the time, also keep such close watch of 
the person’s actions and movements that he is never 
out of your sight for a moment. Never allow the 
subject to see you looking at him. Never imagine 
what you think the subject will do or where he is 
going; the work you undertake is to note where he 
does go and his movements. Guessing on a proposi¬ 
tion in this line is likely to divulge your identity 
and allow the subject to know your business. Do 
not allow your friends to stop or molest you while 
on this kind of work. It only takes you off your 
subject and interferes with your business. If the 
subject you are following becomes suspicious that he 
is being shadowed, he will likely enter an office build- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 41 

ing which has two entrances, entering one and de¬ 
parting by the other. 

One of the most efficient methods of perfecting 
shadowing is to commence when the shadowed party 
leaves his home early in the morning. Where this is 
done, care should be taken that your actions are nat¬ 
ural and normal, so as not to arouse suspicion of his 
friends or others on the street. Frequently, persons 
who suspect they are being shadowed have look-outs, 
whom they depend upon to inform them if any shad¬ 
owing is being done. 

When taking a shadowing job it is very im¬ 
portant to find out as much as possible from the 
client, or in some other way have the subject desig¬ 
nated to you. By this means the shadow does not 
have to come in contact with his subject. 

In doing shadow work in cities the man assigned 
to this work should understand the different streets 
and buildings, be acquainted with the street car lines, 
the location of all prominent buildings and en¬ 
trances to same, as it will often occur that a sub¬ 
ject will go in one entrance in the building and 
come out at another, so the shadow will want to take 
the position, if he can possibly do so, where he can 
cover all entrances. Of course, this is impossible in 
some cases, as some large buildings cover an entire 
block. In a case like this you should follow the 
subject into the building, and, if possible, take the 
elevator and get off at the same floor with him. 

Always note the time the person you are shadow¬ 
ing enters and leaves the building. The one being 
shadowed, no doubt, has certain fixed habits, and 
after shadowing him for a short while you will 


42 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


learn these—where he usually visits, how long he re¬ 
mains, etc. Make a note of all these things, so that 
in case of accident, and you lose track of your sub¬ 
ject your notes will help you to pick him up. again. 
In shadow work it often occurs the subject recog¬ 
nizes the detective and learns that he is being shad¬ 
owed. Should this happen notify the main office so 
that they may send another man to take your place. 
Do not allow the subject to see you with the new 
man. Sometimes the best of detectives will be recog¬ 
nized by the man they are shadowing. Incidents 
of this kind grow less, however, as the detective ac¬ 
quires more experience in shadow work. 

Investigation .—Investigation is another important 
matter in detective work. In the investigation of 
civil and criminal cases the detective is obliged to 
get the necessary evidence or information for his 
clients from many different sources, often entailing 
considerable time, patience, and expense. The in¬ 
vestigation may cover a lot of territory, and the de¬ 
tective will then find it necessary to communicate 
with trusted agents or correspondents in different 
parts of the country to secure what information or 
evidence is needed to win his case. Care should be 
taken to see that all matters placed in other hands 
will receive prompt attention. You should remem¬ 
ber that you are the agent of your client, and as such 
should always endeavor to give all matters placed in 
your hands due consideration and prompt attention. 
The detective should never divulge any information 
given him by his clients to relatives or near friends. 
He should be truthful in his reports, economical with 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 43 


expense money entrusted in his care and never dis¬ 
cuss any of his cases with outsiders. 

“Roping” and Open Investigation Work '.—“To 
draw out or “rope in” with a person for the pur¬ 
pose of making an under cover investigation, you 
must first make their acquaintance, and, if possible 
to do so, do it in. the way that your subject will nevef 
suspect that you are a detective. You must first get 
acquainted with some friend of his or hers, whoever 
the subject may be, then get his friend to introduce 
you, is the best way to get acquainted. Sometimes 
in cases you can pick up an acquaintance with a 
person in a way that would not arouse his suspicion 
and after your acquaintance work out of them by 
degrees the information you are trying to obtain. 
You will be called upon constantly to perform this 
class of work and will become naturally more and 
more expert with practice. In criminal cases, you 
have to be particularly careful, as the criminal is 
always more or less suspicious of strangers, and will 
not give out much information until you gain his 
confidence and get better acquainted. It is best to 
“frame” some story as to who you are and where 
you are from, etc. Do not state you are from some 
city that you are not from and could not give any 
information that would be asked you, as this is like¬ 
ly to ‘ ‘ put you in bad ’ ’. It may be, you have gotten 
fairly well in the confidence of your subject and you 
have been leading him to believe right along that 
you were from Cincinnati when in fact you were 
never in Cincinnati in your life. Then you are in¬ 
troduced by the subject to a friend of his, who is 


44 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


really from Cincinnati, probably being born and 
raised there, and the subject would at once say to the 
newly »met friend, “This man is from your old 
town or city,” and this new friend would begin to 
question you and talk to you about Cincinnati, and 
it would not take him two minutes to find out that 
you had never been in Cincinnati. Then all you 
had done would be undone, as the subject would be¬ 
come suspicious of you. Another thing, while on 
work of this kind, you are liable to meet two or more 
people whom you do not know or with whom you are 
unacquainted, but you might all be good friends of 
the subject. They meet and get to talking over hav¬ 
ing met you, and if you told them all different 
stories as to what your name was, where you were 
from, etc., it will at once arouse the subject’s sus¬ 
picion, and your work with him will be worthless in 
the future. 

Special Agents and Detectives Employed in Rail¬ 
road Work and by Express Companies. —The larger 
railroads, as well as most of the smaller railroads, 
have a detective or special agency department. 
Where there is an organized department, there is al¬ 
ways a chief of detectives, or chief special agent who 
is located in a city or town where the general offices 
of the company are located. His assistants are lo¬ 
cated at certain towns on the division over which he 
presides. The railroads also employ a system of 
watchmen, under the chief special agent, who are lo¬ 
cated in various cities and towns on this division. 
All orders pertaining to this line of work come 
through the chief special agent’s office. The smaller 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 45 

railroads, where they do not have the organized de¬ 
partment, but have a special agent, get their in¬ 
structions from the superintendents of the railroads 
for whom they work. The special agent is commis¬ 
sioned under a “special railroad” law by the Gov¬ 
ernor of the state in which the railroad is located. 
To have authority in all counties in which this rail¬ 
road enters, it is necessary for the special agent to 
have his commission recorded in each county, and 
this gives him no other police power other than au¬ 
thority on the right of way of the railroad company 
for which he is commissioned. 

The railroad detective’s, or special agent’s, duties 
are to investigate all crimes committed against the 
railroad, train robberies, depot burglaries, car rob¬ 
beries, robbery of freight trains while in transit, 
freight depots, investigating “overs” and “shorts” 
in freight shipments, seeing to the safety of passen¬ 
gers while on the trains or at the depots and pro¬ 
tecting them against confidence games, short-change 
men, pickpockets and so forth. It is also his duty 
to trace lost baggage, or baggage that has been pil¬ 
fered while in transit. Investigating claims for per¬ 
sonal injury of passeners or employees of the com¬ 
pany, investigating reports and complaints made 
against employees. Special agents should become 
well acquainted with all employees and officials on 
the division to which he is assigned and make each 
and every one of them his friend, as in most all 
cases which he has to investigate it will be neces¬ 
sary to get information to assist him in this work 
from the officials and employees. He should not, un¬ 
der any circumstances, compromise himself with the 


46 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


officials or employee. But, if possible, he should al¬ 
ways keep them under obligations to him, as he can¬ 
not tell at what time he will be called upon to in¬ 
vestigate an official or employee. At any time he is 
making an investigation, and there is any doubt 
about the complaint against the employee, he should 
give the man under investigation the benefit of 
same. In this manner you can establish a record 
with the officials and employees that will gain their 
confidence and naturally their assistance and makes 
it much easier for you to be successful. Be sure you 
have evidence to secure a conviction before detain¬ 
ing or causing a person or persons to be arrested. 

It always is best to first consult the prosecuting 
attorney, or the attorney who represents the railroad 
company, laying before them the evidence you have 
in the case, and if, in their judgment the evidence 
which you have already obtained is sufficient to con¬ 
vict, then secure your warrant and make the arrest. 

If it should be a case which does not require 
prompt attention, get your evidence in proper form, 
together with a list of witnesses, and present it be¬ 
fore the next term of the grand jury in the county 
in which the crime or offense is committed. If 
the above instructions are carried out, and you fail 
on the conviction, there would be no one responsible 
for false imprisonment or arrest. The detective, or 
special agent, should be well versed in law governing 
his profession in the state in which he operates, as 
in most states the prisoner could recover damages 
for false arrest. 

The express companies transact a very heavy vol¬ 
ume of business in commodities of great value. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 47 


Jewelry and valuables are shipped, much money is 
sent from place to place, and money orders and re¬ 
mittances are passed through the hands of the clerk 
to the customer constantly. In this class of business 
many irregularities occur. In the express detective 
business your knowledge of railroad detective work 
will be of great assistance, as the two are frequently 
called upon to work together. 


Chapter VI. 


The House Man or Hotel Detective. 

The house man, or hotel detective, is employed by 
the hotel to guard the property and reputation of the 
hotel. To guard the property of guests, to watch dis¬ 
honest employees and suspicious guests. 

When the guest reports the loss of money or valu¬ 
ables it is the hotel detective’s business to make an 
investigation, and to find out among the bell boys 
or other employees who had access to the room where 
the valuables were stolen. Chambermaids and new 
bell boys should be carefully watched, as this class 
of petty thieves seldom stay in one place long. 
When a certain employee is accused test him out; 
arrange for him to go on an errand to a guest’s 
room while the guest is absent. If this boy is under 
suspicion place some money on the dresser or in the 
room in such a manner that the boy may see it. Do 
not let any of the help or the boy know they are 
suspicioned, or even that a robbery has occurred. 
These thefts are not always committed by hotel help. 
The professional crooks stop at the large hotels in 
the cities purposely to steal what they can. These 
crooks as a rule are fashionably dressed and pose as 
traveling men, insurance men, etc. They generally 
make it plain to the clerk that they are selling goods 
and frequently mention some particular local business 
man they intend to call on. While the other guests 
are asleep they will try to visit their rooms; also 
when the guests are at their meals. Up-to-date ho¬ 
tels use a double lock on their doors which makes it 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 49 

impossible, should the door be locked on the inside, 
for the hotel thief to open from the outside with a 
skeleton key. The transoms over the doors are also 
constructed so they open from the top, which makes 
it impossible for the hotel thief to gain entrance in 
that way. It is surprising, however, to a person 
not familiar with hotel detective work, to know the 
large number of guests in a hotel who do not take the 
trouble to, or forget to lock their doors when leaving 
their room for a meal or on business purposes, or 
when retiring at night, and of course, it is an easy 
matter for the hotel thief to rob all such guests. 

We have another class of thief who causes hotels 
considerable trouble by getting them to cash fraudu¬ 
lent checks for them, but lately it is almost impossi¬ 
ble for any guest to have a personal check cashed, as 
the larger hotels make the clerk responsible. When a 
clerk in a hotel is suspicious of a guest, it is his duty 
to supply the house detective with such information; 
also instructions to be on the lookout; then the hotel 
detective usually has a better chance to observe the 
actions of guests than do the clerks, for the reason 
the detective is not known, but is supposed to be a. 
guest at the hotel. The hotel detective should be 
supplied with all information and data relating to all 
the well-known hotel crooks, photographs, measure¬ 
ments, descriptions, etc., as these crooks frequently 
play the same hotel numerous times under different; 
names. The larger hotels are infested by petty 
thieves, thieves who steal overcoats, wraps, hats and 
wearing apparel. Women, as well as men, ply this 
occupation and work usually in the lobbies, waiting 
rooms and writing rooms of the hotel. These thieves 


50 


CLENDENEN’S DETECTIVE MANUAL 


mingle where the guests are thickest and manage to 
sit near where a guest sits reading, his coat or wrap 
thrown carelessly over a chair. Then the w T ell 
dressed thief waits the opportunity when the owner 
of the coat or wrap is busy with the book, or has his 
attention directed elsewhere, then he carelessly picks 
up the overcoat or wrap and leaves the hotel. A 
more common nuisance around the hotel is the 
“masher”. This type of men and women are found 
in abundance and one class makes about as much 
trouble as the other. Real hotels have no desire to 
keep either of these classes, as they damage the repu¬ 
tation and the business of the hotel. The male of 
this class usually will be found hanging around the 
telephone booths and the waiting rooms. The female 
inhabits the balcony and corridors. The detective, 
in dealing with these two classes, must use great cau¬ 
tion in order that a mistake may be avoided, as 
great damage could be done a hotel by a detective 
making himself obnoxious to reputable, well-man¬ 
nered guests, and it is well to have the evidence on 
any one reported before any action is taken. The 
house man, or hotel detective, is not only custodian 
<of the property of the hotel, but is responsible for 
the morals and general behavior of both guest and 
employee. He should familiarize himself with all 
frequenters of the hotel and know as much as possi¬ 
ble about the various employees, even down to the 
scrub woman. This should be easy for him, as he 
has plenty of time for observation and is recognized 
by very few persons as being an official or connected 
with the hotel. It is the hotel detective’s duty to 
look out for all gambling and confidence games going 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 51 


on in the hotel. The confidence men and gamblers 
generally pick out some man whom they know to 
have money, make his acquaintance, find ont if he 
has a weakness for gambling, and if so, suggest that 
they have a card game. The gambler will then meet 
one or more of his confederates, introduce them to 
the stranger, or “sucker” as he is called by them, 
of course introducing his confederates also as travel¬ 
ing men, and they will take him to his room or their 
room and there start a little game. They will then 
send one of the confederates out for a deck of cards, 
and he will return claiming he got them from the 
drug store, but they really are cards prepared or 
stamped which they can read. These cards they call 
“paper” and the “sucker” has no chance to make a 
win. They then increase the limit and the stranger 
or “sucker” is broke, and nothing more is mentioned 
of the game. They will sometimes go so strong as to 
have one of their confederates impersonate the house 
detective and he will appear when the game is in 
progress at the appointed time, and threaten to ar¬ 
rest all the players, in this way intimidating the 
stranger or “sucker” so that he will not mention his 
loss or game to the hotel management. 


Chapter VII. 

Industrial Detective Work. 

Large factories, warehouses and wholesale houses 
and other industrial plants employing numbers of 
workers have a great deal of work for the industrial 
detective. In taking up work for a wholesale house, 
for instance, the detective must secure employment 
in the department where ‘‘leaks” are occurring, or 
where the information is to be obtained; then, as soon 
as possible, gain the confidence of the employees. 
Note where they keep their coats, overcoats and 
other wearing apparel, and if you suspect a certain 
employee, watch and see whether or not he carries 
out any bundles concealed in his coat or about his 
person. When they take an article, they usually 
hide it somewhere, and if wearing an overcoat, they 
usually put it in their overcoat pocket, so just be¬ 
fore quitting time, go to where the overcoat or coat 
is hanging, and see if they have anything in their 
coat pockets. If so, examine it so you will know 
whether or not they have bought such article. If 
not, you will then know that they are stealing. It 
should then be arranged to have some one on the 
outside shadow or place them under surveillance to 
see what disposition they are making of the stolen 
goods, as this employee may be one of a gang work¬ 
ing in the house, and then if a watch is kept on the 
place where the goods are being disposed of, it will 
only be a short time until the rest of the gang will 
be found out. 

In looking after dishonest employees you should 
not be too quick to act, for the reason that as stated 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 53 

above, he may be one of a large gang operating in 
the house. The detective who does the inside work 
should not be assigned to the outside work of shad¬ 
owing. His duties should be to cultivate the ac¬ 
quaintance of the employees, but he should not, un¬ 
der any circumstances, try to make a thief out of 
an employee or encourage any employee to do any 
stealing. In following this kind of work in ware¬ 
houses, freight house or manufacturing establish¬ 
ments and in looking after thieves, or dishonest em¬ 
ployees the same tactics should be used. 

Another class of industrial work is in manufactur¬ 
ing plants where a large number of men and women 
are employed, where the employer wants to know 
whether or not the employees are loyal or disloyal; 
whether there is any agitation among the employees. 
If so, who the agitators are? If there are any griev¬ 
ances on the part of the employees, what the griev¬ 
ances are ? If it should be a non-union plant, whether 
or not there are any union men employed in the 
plant? Whether they are trying to unionize the 
plant ? To do this kind of detective work, it is neces¬ 
sary for the detective to understand some kind of 
work around the factory or business plant so that he 
could go there and secure a position on his own re¬ 
sources. Getting into a plant in this way never 
arouses the suspicions of the employees, and after 
he is employed he should associate with the other 
employees during the noon hour. Should he find 
that there is any large number of them rooming or 
boarding at the same house or hotel in the vicinity 
of the plant to secure room and board there him¬ 
self. 


54 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


If this should not he the ease, if he should learn 
of a place where a number of them gather, or loaf 
in the evenings, or when not working, make it a 
point to he around there. Get on friendly terms 
with as many of them as possible, and in this way 
you will soon know everything that is going on in 
the factory or plant. In doing this line of work, you 
should be very careful that you do not over-do it by 
spending too much money for drinks or other pur¬ 
poses. If you should do this, finally they will get 
suspicious of you and your work would be worthless. 
The best way is to simply act natural and live within 
what you are really earning at the place you are 
working. Do not try to fool any of the experienced 
mechanics as to your capability in certain lines of 
work. If you do they will surely get on to you. In 
doing any kind of industrial work, it is very im¬ 
portant to not carry any credentials of any kind 
on your person that would identify you as a detec¬ 
tive. It is sometimes better to change your entire 
clothing while working in the factory or shop, as 
the first thing a person would do if they were sus¬ 
picious of you would be to look through your clothing 
to see if they could find any credential or card which 
would identify you as a detective. You should also 
be careful not to leave any credentials or in fact 
anything where you are living or boarding, as they 
are also likely to be searched during your absence. 

This class of work is also called secret service 
work. Any young man of ordinary intelligence or 
education could be successful in this kind of work. 
The factory or plant makes a contract with the de- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 55 


tective agency and sometimes the 'beginner is used 
in this class of work. 

Kailroads, street car lines and coal companies have 
a large amount of industrial or special work done, 
such as placing detectives who are members of the 
various railroad orders or unions among the em¬ 
ployees, such as conductors, engineers, firemen, brake- 
men, bridge builders, machinists, blacksmiths, freight 
hustlers, clerks in the general offices, telegraph op¬ 
erators, and even down to section men, to get at ir¬ 
regularities, disloyalty, etc. The detective taking up 
this work should be a member of these various or¬ 
ganizations to get the desired results. 


Chapter VIII. 

Insurance Detectives. 

Insurance companies, both life and fire, offer a 
very broad field for the detective. In fire insurance, 
practically every fire is of unknown origin. A per¬ 
centage, of course, are regular “burn-outs”, where 
the proprietor or owner is seeking to defraud the 
insurance company. 

Fire insurance companies, however, must act very 
cautiously to not reflect suspicion on anyone, as 
they might be sued for damages. Fire insurance 
companies, therefore, never accuse anyone until they 
have the positive proof, and in order to get this proof 
careful detective work is necessary. 

It is astonishing how many fires of this “burn¬ 
out” class occur. Men, engaged in business, carry a 
large stock of goods, and fail to make their busi¬ 
ness pay. They see disaster staring them in the face 
and they deliberately set fire to store and contents 
in order to save themselves. Others have their money 
invested in buildings ; bad luck overtakes them, the 
buildings remain idle, and they plan to “burn-out” 
and collect the insurance. As mentioned above, even 
where all indications point to the owner setting fire to 
his own property, yet the fire insurance company dare 
not accuse him. Instead they delay settlement on 
some pretext or another, meanwhile investigating all 
phases of the fire. There is a wonderful opportunity 
in this work for good, ordinary detective work. In 
the case of a suspicious fire, the detective secures all 
the information possible without allowing the sus¬ 
pected man to know an investigation is being made. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 57 


It is well to find out the man’s past history, where 
he was located previously, whether he had any pre¬ 
vious fires, or failures, what his reputation has been, 
whether he had any expensive habits, also whether 
his business at the present location was on a profit¬ 
able basis, together with all conditions relating to his 
taking out the present insurance. 

In investigating “burn-outs” the detective must 
follow the same policies as the insurance companies 
and be careful to avoid throwing suspicion on any¬ 
one. He must work along the lines suggested iby the 
insurance company, and with only one object in view 
—to secure facts. He must not draw his own con¬ 
clusions that the man is guilty—he is not being paid 
for his opinion. He must secure all the facts possi¬ 
ble as directed by the insurance company and place 
these facts in the hands of his company to be dealt 
with by the latter as their judgment directs. He 
must also remember the company will not prosecute 
unless the evidence is positive and honest. 

In reports on this line of work the detective should 
make the information stand out plain and clear and 
give facts which he has learned in a truthful and un¬ 
biased manner. He must be honest with the man un¬ 
der suspicion as well as the company, as many fires 
have all the earmarks of crooked “burn-outs” and 
yet turn out to be regular accidents and perfectly 
legitimate. 

Frequently, it is necessary for the detective to 
spend lots of money in getting into the confidence of 
a man suspected of incendiarism. If the evidence 
points strongly to incendiarism, however, the com¬ 
pany is willing to spend money to catch him, as he 


58 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


might be the cause of a great number of “burn-outs’* 
unless stopped permanently. 

It was only a few years ago the insurance com¬ 
panies in a large city suspected that there was a 
regular arson gang operating, due to the fact that 
they had so many suspicious losses, altogether 
amounting to more than a million dollars. I was 
employed for the purpose of making this investiga¬ 
tion, and to determine whether it was one organized 
gang doing this work or whether it was being done 
by various individuals acting independently of each 
other. 

After several months of hard work and careful 
investigation I determined that the most of the big 
fires were being done by an organized gang, and af¬ 
ter further work, with the assistance of the local 
city detective department, I succeeded in rounding 
up this gang, which not only included the real fire 
bugs and the persons insured, but an insurance solici¬ 
tor, an insurance agent, and an insurance adjuster. 
The fire bugs were caught red-handed with several 
barrels of gasoline, hundreds of feet of fuse and 
powder, as they entered a big plant for the purpose 
of burning the same. These men were tried and con¬ 
victed, as the evidence against them was complete. 


Chapter IX. 

Criminal Slang—Used by All Classes of 
Criminals. 

Auntie or Mother—Keeper of an assignation house, 
or house of ill-fame. 

Alias—A false name used by crooks. 

Alley Rat—One who robs persons in alleys. 

A Panhandler—A beggar, or one who solicits alms 
on the streets. 

A Mizzen Mast Worker—A top story thief. 

A Moll Buzzer—A thief who robs women only. 

A Green Goods Man—One who sells worthless se¬ 
curities. 

A Flying Jib—A talkative drunk. 

A Four-flusher—A bluffer, a braggart. 

A Bum Shaft—A bad leg. 

A Bum Mit—A sore arm, or crippled hand. 

A Bum Lamp—A bad eye. 

A Bum Steer—False information, or direction. 

A Fall Guy—One who assumes blame to shield 
others. 

A Stool Pigeon—Thief who informs on others for 
protection. 

A Valentine—A short jail sentence. 

A Gum Moll—A woman pickpocket. 

A Rag—A woman. 

A Skirt—A woman. 

A Hunch—A tip; a presentiment. 

A Flat Wheel—A crippled leg or foot. 

A Lift—A help. 

Blackstone—A judge. 

Blew in—Came in; came in town. 


60 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Bowl of Suds—Glass of beer. 

Bats—Delirium tremens. 

Blow—To tell around; to leave a place; to let 
alone. 

Beak—A magistrate; a judge. 

Bolt—To leave in haste. 

Buggy—Insane. 

Benny—An overcoat. 

Benny (wooden)—A coffin. 

Big House—Penitentiary. 

Bilked—Fooled, evaded. 

Bloke—Another person; a dumb fellow. 

Brief—Pawn ticket. 

Bracelets—Handcuffs. 

Beefer—A complaining or informing person. 
Belched—Told it; informed; gave up information. 
Body Snatcher—Undertaker. 

Beat—To escape; to defraud; to overcome. 
Bang-up—Done right; good; red handed; 'without 

warding. 

Bug House—Insane asylum. 

Blowing a Peter—Blowing open a safe. 

Blink—-No good. 

Bull—A policeman. 

Baldy—An old man. 

Blind—A make-believe; a stall; a pretense; an 
excuse. 

Brass—Nerve. 

Booked—Registered at a police station. 

Brush—Whiskers. 

Cannon—Gun; a pick-pocket. 

Canuck—A French Canadian. 

Coffin Varnish—Bad whiskey. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 61 


Cell 99—Coroner’s office; unidentified. 

Chi—Chicago. 

Cop—Policeman; steal. 

Copper—Policeman. 

Cold Feet—Lost courage. 

Can—Police station. 

Chuck—Meals. 

Cop the Coin—Steal the money. 

Croak—To die. 

Crocus—A doctor. 

Cove—;A fellow. 

Cush—Money. 

Charlie Adams—A Yankee jail. 

Chippie—A young woman of doubtful character. 
Cooler—A cell. 

Crumb—A louse. 

Cuter—The prosecuting attorney. 

Cinch—A certainty. 

Coffin Nails—Cigarettes. 

-Coke Head—A user of cocaine. 

Dame—A girl. • 

Dip—A pickpocket. 

Ditch—To leave. 

Dope—Information. 

Dough—Money. 

Duck—To sneak; to dodge; to sneak away. 

Dump—Hang-out; low resort. 

Drag—Horse and wagon; burglars’ tools; political 
influence; draw smoke from pipe, cigarette or cigar. 
Daffy 1 —Demented or insane. 

Dress Suit Burglar—Lobbyist; slippery fellow ; 
smooth person. 

Damp Powder—Not to be feared; a fake agitator. 


62 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Double Crossed—To betray confidence; to fool. 
Dippy—Insane; crazy. 

Dressed in—To prepare for prison sentence, being 
measured, photographed, hair cut, and donned with 
uniform. 

Dressed out—To receive discharge, suit money, etc., 
when leaving prison. 

D. & S.—Dangerous and suspicious. 

Douse the Glim—Turn out the light. 

Disciples—Jury. 

Doniker—Cell; water closet. 

Fagin—Thief; a person who teaches others how 
to steal. 

Flat Joint—Crooked gambling joint. 

Fall Guy—Thief who takes blame and penalty to 
save pals. 

Fall Money—A fund maintained by thieves for 
their protection. 

Fence—A receiver of stolen goods. 

Finger—An officer of the law. 

Flag—To stop. 

Frame-up—A pre-arranged affair. 

Frisk—A search. 

Front—A showing, good clothes. 

Flop—To stop; lie down; rest. 

Flush—With plenty of money. 

Fixed—Bribed; bought; pre-arranged. 
Four-flusher—One who acts for effect. 

Fine as Silk—In good condition. 

Front Office—Office of Chief of Police or De¬ 
tectives. 

Floater—A traveler; a tramp. 

Fresh Fish—A new hand; a new-comer. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 63 


Flossie—A blonde. 

Gat—Revolver. 

Gran—Leg; an old person. 

Gofer—Safe, with time lock. 

Gaff—‘Punishment. 

Houseman—Burglar. 

Hash Slinger—Waiter; restaurant worker. 

Hop Joint—Place where opium is smoked. 

Hot Air—Senseless talk. 

Hot Foot—Run. 

Hitting the Pipe—Smoking opium. 

Harness Bull—Uniform officer. 

Hinky Dink’s—Clark St., Chicago; a resort in 
Chicago. 

Hay Rack—Cell bed. 

Hip—Wire; aware of. 

Hoof—Walk. 

Hike—Walk. 

Hep—To be aware; to catch on. 

Head Light—Diamond stud; a whiskey nose. 

Heat on—Drunk. 

Jersey Lightning—Bad whiskey. 

Jobbed—Pre-arranged; unjustly convicted. 

J ugged—Arrested. 

J agged—Drunk. 

Jimmy—A bar with a crook in it so as to produce 
leverage. 

Jacob—A ladder. 

Jimmying a Bull—To stop or kill a policeman. 
Jobs Put Over—Crimes committed. 

Kicks—Shoes. 

Knocker—One who speaks against the interests of 
another. 


64 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Kite—An immoral woman. 

Knockout Drops—A drug used to stupefy. 

Kike—A worthless or unsuccessful Jew thief. 
Laying on the Side—Smoking opium. 

Lingo—Foreign talk. ♦ „ 

Lip—Talk. 

Leery—Afraid; doubtful of. 

Leather—Purse. 

Laying Out—Assaulting. 

Lay-out—Gambling outfit; opium outfit; an illegal 
collection. 

Laying Paper—Passing worthless checks, drafts, 
etc. 

Life Boat—A pardon. 

Life Saver—Drink of whiskey. 

Lemon Pool—Two playing against one in a game 
of pool; beat at pool by two confederates. 

Law Ghost—A lawyer who never appears in court, 
but prepares cases for trial, looking up law, etc. 
Mouthpiece—A lawyer. 

Moniker—A name; an alias. 

Mission Stiff—A missionary worker; a convert. 
Pick-up—Arrested accidentally without any spe¬ 
cific charge. 

Punk—Bread. 

Phoney—A substitute; bogus; not real. 

Puffin Rod—A revolver. 

Pipe Dream—Something not real; idealistic idea. 
Plug—A horse; anything old or broken down. 
Suds—Beer. 

Slop—Stale beer. 

Swig—A drink. 

Swipe—Steal. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 65 


Stick—To remain; to wait. 

Slats—Ribs. 

Sixer—Six months. 

Scot Free—Escaped; with no restraint. 

Shiner—A black eye. 

Sheeney—A Jew, a Hebrew; a stingy person. 
Soaking—Placing in pawn; hitting. 

Switch—Transferred; passing to another; substi¬ 
tuting. 

Spieling—Talking; walking; waltzing. 

Snide—Mean; cheap. 

Scratcher—Forger. 

Shoving the Queer—Passing counterfeit. 

Scrub Squad—Sanitary gang in prison. 

Shark—Money lender. 

Sidetracked—Left. 

Soup—A concoction made by boiling dynamite in 
water and then drawing off the bottom, which is 
nitroglycerine, used in safe blowing. 

Smoke Wagon—Revolver. 

Sinkers—Doughnuts. 

Side Door Sleeper—A box car. 

Shadowed—Followed; kept track of; actions noted. 
Snow—Cocaine. 

Salve—Cheap talk. 

Shy—Short. 

Tribunal—Court. 

Twist—Waltz. 

Tart—A girl of questionable character. 

Togs—Clothes. 

Tanking Up—Drinking. 

Tip—A warning. 

Tommy—A girl of questionable character. 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Toad Skins—Paper money. 

Turnip—A watch. 

Throwed Down—Betrayed. 

Third Rail—A pickpocket on a R. R. 

Tommy Buster—A man who beats prostitutes and 
lewd women. 

Turn a Trick—A theft accomplished. 

Trailed—Followed by a detective. 

Track 13 and a Washout—A term in a western 
prison. 

Third Degree—A violent method of the police; a 
re-enaction of the crime that one is accused of. 

Twenty-three—An invitation to leave; originated 
in New Orleans, La. 

Top-piece—Reward; hat. 

'To the Sheets—To bed. 

’Tip Your Mitt—Make known your purpose. 

Uncle—A prefix to the name of pawnbroker. 

Up the River—Sentenced to Sing Sing, a New 
York prison. 

Use the Wax—Take an impression of a key. 
Vagged—Convicted of vagrancy. 

Velvet—Easy. 

Windjammer—A talkative person. 

Whiskey Tenor—A bad soloist. 

White Mule—Alcohol. 

White Stuff—Morphine. 

Wet Goods—Stolen goods. 

Yenshee—Residue left in the pipe after smoking 
opium, which is boiled over again and smoked. 


Chapter X. 

Scotland Yard Detectives. 

There are but few officers who fully understand 
what is meant by the term “Scotland Yard”. Scot¬ 
land Yard means the headquarters of the London 
Police, said to be the shrewdest detectives in the 
world. It is located on the Thames embankment and 
still retains its celebrated name because, when located 
at Whitehall, it was reputed to have served as the 
residence of early Scottish Kings. This system has 
four definite divisions with the minor, though im¬ 
portant, fifth division: (1) There is a special 
branch that looks after secret service matters relat¬ 
ing to the protection of the King and his ministers. 
(2) The criminal registry. (3) The convict su¬ 
pervision office. (4) Finger print branch, and the 
additional division is the office squad, which is sub¬ 
ject to be called out or detailed in extraordinary 
cases. 

If we understand the English system fully, we 
must take into account the fact that the English 
mind thinks in a straight line; that is, it reasons di¬ 
rectly from cause to effect and effect to cause, and 
it seizes only the essentials and drives home to its ob¬ 
ject with them. The English rely on straight think¬ 
ing and common sense instead of intricate reasoning 
and psychical research. This fact accounts for the 
type of workers employed. The men are not labora¬ 
tory specialists or medical experts, but practical po¬ 
licemen, for the most part, from the country dis¬ 
tricts. There are several different reasons for this 
choice: (1) A country fellow is not acquainted 


68 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


with city ways and customs, and is therefore not li¬ 
able to be influenced by them. Again since crime is 
regarded iby the Englishman, not as a result of 
hereditary tendencies or a psychic phenomenon, but 
as a mere violation of law, it demands no intricate 
reasoning. A country fellow is more apt to see things 
clearly than is the city bred man. There are only 
two distinguishing characteristics. The first is the 
direct action in cases of arrest. The second, or most 
important, is the method of following dominant 
clues. The direct action in cases of arrest is a very 
dangerous method, as the criminals are wholly capa¬ 
ble of a good pitched battle or a running fight; and 
they are almost invariably as well armed as their as¬ 
sailants. Still the Englishman will not allow a cap¬ 
ture by a ruse or finesse. It must be direct. The 
method of following the dominant clue is, as I have 
said, the distinguishing characteristics of the Eng¬ 
lish method. The detective, instead of taking into 
consideration every thread of the woof and warp of 
the evidence, chooses one single item—the essential 
clue. On this one item of circumstantial evidence 
hangs the entire decision. This organization "of 
Scotland Yard is entirely independent, entirely un¬ 
der the control of a commissioner, who is responsi¬ 
ble to the home secretary alone. It is not accountable 
to the public in any way, gives no information, cor¬ 
rects or discredits nothing reported, never affirms or 
denies a newspaper rumor, and offers no explanation 
for its expenditures. It is thus enabled to work 
without any intereference or outside pressure. 

The greatest difficulty Scotland Yard is forced to 
meet is the handling of continental criminals, be- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 69 


cause of the great amount of red tape necessary in 
order to get in contact with the foreign detective 
agency. All communications are to be made first to 
the foreign minister. He informs the Ambassador 
in London, who in turn takes up the matter with the 
British secretary of foreign affairs, who turns it over 
to the home secretary, who in turn, turns it over to 
Scotland Yard. These peculiar methods remind one 
of the house that Jack built. Still these matters 
must be handled with the greatest delicacy and 
diplomacy. 

' The Scotland Yard detectives maintain a sensible 
man hunt by an experienced officer, and this will do 
more good than all the laboratory experiment the 
continent can carry on, and the American detective, 
in order to be successful, should follow these methods. 











Chapter XI. 

Legal Phrases of Criminal and Civil Law. 

Accessory—One who is not the chief actor in the 
perpetration of the offense, nor present in its per¬ 
formance, hut is some way concerned therein, either 
before or after the fact committed. 

Accessory Before the Fact—One who, knowing a 
felony to have been committed, receives, relieves, 
comforts or assists the felon. 

Accomplice—One who is in some way concerned in 
the commission of a crime, though, not as a principal. 

Administrator—A person authorized by court to 
manage and distribute the estate of an intestate, or 
of a testator, who has appointed no executor, or when 
the executor declines to act. 

Alibi—Presence in another place than that de¬ 
scribed. 

Alimony—The allowance which a husband by the 
order of court pays to his wife who lives apart from 
him for her maintenance. It may be pendente life, 
i. e .: during trial, or permanent, i. e.: during their 
joint lives after termination of suit. 

Answer—A defense in writing made by a de¬ 
fendant to the charges contained in a bill filed by the 
plaintiff against him. 

Appeal—The removal of a cause from a court of 
inferior to one of superior jurisdiction for the pur¬ 
pose of obtaining a review and retrial. 

Apprehension—The capture or arrest of a person 
on a criminal charge. 

Arrests—Apprehending a person and detaining 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 71 

him in order that he may be forthcoming' to answer 
to an alleged or suspected crime. 

Assaults—An unlawful offer or attempt with force 
or violence to do a corporal hurt to another. 

Assignee—One to whom the transfer is made. 

Assignment—A transfer or making over to an¬ 
other of the whole of any property, real or personal, 
in possession or in action, or of any estate or right 
therein. An assignment is a transfer by writing 
and not by delivery. 

Attachment—A writ issued by the court command¬ 
ing the sheriff, or other proper officer, to attach the 
property, rights, credits, or effects of the defendant 
to satisfy the demands of the plaintiff. 

Bastard—One born of an illicit connection and be¬ 
fore the lawful marriage of its parents. One begot¬ 
ten and born out of lawful wedlock. A man is a 
bastard if born before the lawful marriage of his 
parents, but he is not a bastard if born after their 
marriage, although begotten before. A man is a 
bastard if born during coverture under such circum¬ 
stances as to make it impossible that the husband 
of his mother can be his father, as if the husband 
has been absent on a sea-voyage for twelve months 
prior to his birth. A man is a bastard if born be¬ 
yond a competent time after coverture has ceased, 
as twelve months after the death of the husband or 
after divorce. Most of the states provide that if a 
man marry a woman after she has borne children for 
him, that fact legitimizes the children. 

Battery—An unlawful beating, or other wrongful 
physical violence or constraint, inflicted upon a hu¬ 
man being without his consent. 


72 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Bigamy—A man who has two wives living at the 
same time, or a woman who has two husbands living 
at the same time. If more than two wives or two 
husbands, the proper term is polygamy. 

Blackmail—In modern use, the extortion of money 
from a person by threats of accusation or exposure. 
The term originated in England and was first ap¬ 
plied to those rents which were paid in grain or la¬ 
bor. They were called blackmail in distinction from 
white rents, which were paid in silver. The bands 
of marauders that infested the borders of England 
and Scotland about the middle of the sixteenth cen¬ 
tury levied contributions yearly from the inhabi¬ 
tants for alleged security and protection. This was 
called blackmail. 

Bond—An obligation in writing under seal. It is 
usually for the payment of money upon certain con¬ 
ditions, as the malfeasance in office of the party for 
whose good conduct the bondsmen vouch, or the 
failure of a prisoner to appear in court for trial. 

Bribery—The receiving or offering any undue re¬ 
ward by or to any person whomsoever, whose ordi¬ 
nary profession or business relates to the administra¬ 
tion of public justice, in order to influence his be¬ 
havior in office, and to incline him to act contrary to 
his duty, and the known rules of honesty and in¬ 
tegrity. 

Chastity—Purity from all unlawful intercourse. 
A woman may defend her chastity by taking the life 
of her assailant. 

Coercion—Constraint, compulsion, force. 

Cohabit—To live together in the same house claim¬ 
ing to be husband and wife. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 73 


Compounding a Felony—The act of a party in¬ 
jured in agreeing with a thief or felon that he will 
not prosecute him if he will return the goods stolen 
or in taking a reward not to prosecute. 

Corpus Delicti —The essence of the crime; the 
body. 

Embezzlement—The act of fraudulently removing 
and secreting personal property with the care and 
management of which the party has been entrusted, 
for the purpose of applying it to his own use. 

Exemption—The right given by law to a debtor to 
hold a portion of his property free from liability to 
execution at the suit of a creditor, or to distress from 
rent. 

False Pretenses; In Criminal Law—False repre¬ 
sentations of facts made with a fraudulent design to 
obtain money, goods, or merchandise, with intent to 
cheat. The representation must be of a present, ex¬ 
isting state of things or a past event. An assurance 
with reference to a future transaction will not 
amount to a statutory false pretense. 

Foeticide—Criminal abortion. 

Forgery—The falsely making or materially alter¬ 
ing with intent to defraud, any writing, which, if 
genuine, might apparently be of legal efficacy, or the 
foundation of legal liability. The statutes of most of 
the states define forgery with great particularity and 
reference should be made to them. 

Guardian—One who has legally the case and man¬ 
agement of the person or the estate, or both, of a 
child during minority. 

Homicide—A killing under such circumstances of 
accident or necessity that the party is relieved from 


74 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


the penalty annexed to the commission of a felonious 
homicide. 

Justifiable Homicide—A killing committed with 
full intent, but under such circumstances of duty as 
to render the act one proper to be performed... Self 
defense. 

Felonious Homicide—A killing committed wil¬ 
fully, and under such circumstances as to make it 
punishable. 

Excusable Homicide—A killing under such cir¬ 
cumstances of accident or necessity that the party is 
relieved from the penalty annexed to the commission 
of a felonious homicide. 

Illicit—Unlawful. 

Injunction—A prohibitory writ issued by a court 
of equity to restrain one of the parties to a suit in 
equity from doing an act which is deemed unjust or 
inequitable. 

Manslaughter; Criminal Law—The unlawful kill¬ 
ing of another without malice. Manslaughter dif¬ 
fers from murder in lacking the essential elements of 
malice and premeditation. There being no premedi¬ 
tation, there can be no accessories before the fact. 
Manslaughter may be voluntary, as when the person 
intends to produce the injury, or involuntary, as 
that which occurs without the intention to inflict the 
injury, but in the performance of an unlawful act. 
The different grades of homicide are defined and 
their punishments fixed by the statutes of the vari¬ 
ous states. 

Murder; Criminal Law—The wilful killing of any 
person, with malice aforethought. In nearly all 
states murder has been divided into degrees. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 75 

Parricide—The unlawful killing of father or mo¬ 
ther, the murder of anyone to whom reverence is 
due. 

Perjury—The wilful giving, under oath, in a ju¬ 
dicial proceeding or court of justice, of false testi¬ 
mony material to the point at issue. 

Poaching—Unlawful entering land in the night 
time, armed with intent to take or destroy game. 

Rape—The carnal knowledge of a woman by a 
man forcibly and unlawfully and against her will. 
Man in this definition means a male of the human 
species of the age of fourteen and upwards. 

Search Warrant—A warrant requiring the officer 
to whom it is addressed to search a house specified 
for property alleged to have been stolen and se¬ 
creted therein. The officer must bring the goods if 
found and the body of the person occupying the 
premises, who must be named before the justice is¬ 
suing the warrant or some other legally authorized 
officer. 

Self-Defense—The protection of one’s person and 
property from injury. A man may repel force by 
force, of his person, property, habitation against 
anyone who attempts to commit a forcible felony, as 
murder, burglary, rape, arson, robbery. He is not 
required to retreat but may resist and even pursue 
his adversary until he has secured himself from all 
danger. 

Treason—Against the United States, according to 
the Constitution, consists in levying war against 
them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them 
aid and comfort. It can only be committed by a 
person who owes allegiance to the government. In 


76 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


monarchies an attempt to killthe king is treason. 

Vagrant—An idle person who has no settled home, 
who refuses to work and goes about begging, com¬ 
monly called a tramp. 

Verdict—The unanimous decision of a jury re¬ 
ported to the court on the case submitted to them in 
the trial of a case or cause. 

Violence—The abuse of force; that force which is 
employed against the common right, against law and 
order and against public property. 

Void—That which has no force or effect. 

Voidable—That which has some force or effect, 
but which in consequence of some inherent quality 
may be legally annulled or avoided. An infant’s 
note or contract with an adult is a familiar ex¬ 
ample. The infant may avoid or confirm the con¬ 
tract upon coming of age. 

Warrant—A writ issued by a justice of the peace 
or other authorized officer and directed to a con¬ 
stable or other officer of the law ordering him to 
arrest a person therein named charged with commit¬ 
ting some offense and bring him before the justice. 

Witness—One who testifies under oath to what he 
knows of his own knowledge not acquired by hear¬ 
say. 

Without Prejudice—Anything said or done with¬ 
out prejudice is without affecting anyone’s rights in 
the controversy or question at issue. 


Chapter XII. 

Tricks of the Up-to-Date Crook. 

Pickpockets —Professional pickpockets, or “dips”, 
generally work in gangs of from two to five, 
in places that are crowded, or on street cars 
and railroad trains. Some are so successful that 
they can get through a crowd and “lift” or “dip” 
half a dozen pocket-books, watches or other valu¬ 
ables in a few minutes. When they work in groups 
the leader will spot the intended victim and jostle 
him or step on his toes, and while excusing himself, 
or otherwise attracting his attention, the rest of the 
gang will go through his pockets. Another method 
is for the gang to arrive on the platform of a street 
car, and as the victim squeezes himself on to the 
platform to pick his pockets, or one of the gang will 
stand at the entrance and help the intended victim 
aboard the car, and when the car starts throw his 
arms about him as though to keep from falling; 
while he has his arms about the victim, the other 
members close around him and proceed to relieve 
him of his valuables. Women pickpockets travel on 
street cars and sometimes have a false arm lying 
in their lap, giving them the appearance of having 
both hands in their lap, while they rob the one sit¬ 
ting next with the free arm. In larger cities the 
“squeeze game” is worked on the street cars and 
they have even robbed passengers by getting diamond 
studs from their shirt bosoms with their teeth. 

Flat Workers — Flat workers operate in pairs. 
One acts as a “stall”; that is, finds the lay of the 
ground; the “stall” enters the flat first, rings the 


78 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


bell, and if answered, asks for someone whom he 
knows does not live there. When he finally locates 
an apartment that the occupants have left, he sig¬ 
nals his partner, who goes up to the door and opens 
it with a skeleton key, or small jimmy, and ran¬ 
sacks the place thoroughly. While he is upstairs 
his partner inserts a letter in the letter box of the 
apartment while his partner is working, and if the 
occupant arrives in the meantime and abstracts the 
letter the “stall” rings the bell as a signal a num¬ 
ber of times, giving the thief upstairs time to get 
out, either through the front or rear door. Flat 
workers are generally young men, well dressed * and 
if accosted in the hall of an apartment give some ex¬ 
cuse or pretend to be on the wrong floor. This is 
easy when it is taken into consideration that flats 
or apartments are from two to fifteen stories high 
and contain a large number of occupants. 

Shoplifters —The professional shoplifter is to be 
found in every large city; large department stores 
are their field of operation. They generally work 
in pairs, sometimes two women or a man and a wo¬ 
man ; one engages the attention of the clerk while the 
other does the work. They are most active during 
the winter and the holidays. In the-winter the wo¬ 
man wears a large coat or cloak fitted with large 
false pockets reaching almost to the ground, in which 
she places the stolen articles. While in the store 
they never recognize each other, and never leave the 
store at the same time. The one doing the stealing 
leaves first, the other makes some small purchases, at 
the same time planning another job if the present 
one is successful. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 79 


Kleptomaniacs —'Kleptomaniacs are supposed to be 
persons who steal for the reason that they do not 
realize the difference between wrong and right. 
When some woman of means, who can easily afford 
to purchase her wants, steals, she is said to be a 
kleptomaniac. Cases have been known where women 
would purchase hundreds of dollars of goods a 
month from some store and while in the store could 
not resist the temptation to steal small articles of 
very little value. Sometimes a detective will follow 
her around and make a note of the articles she steals 
and charge it to her account; the proprietors of the 
establishment finding that the better manner of han¬ 
dling such cases, rather than losing her trade. 
Kleptomaniacs are very seldom found among the 
poorer classes of shoplifters. 

The Green Goods Swindler —The green goods game, 
as it is sometimes called, is generally worked on the 
green countryman, or some “sucker” in a little town. 
They generally insert an advertisement in a small 
monthly magazine, ‘‘Hearth and Home”, "Home and 
Fireside”, etc. This advertisement catches the 
“sucker’s” eye and he corresponds with a man who 
gives an alias in some little town. He will request 
that the “sucker” return each and every letter that 
he receives, and the “sucker” when the meeting is 
completed has even been given a new twenty dollar 
bill out of a roll of the supposed green goods to 
take to the bank to get it changed. The “sucker” 
is then informed that if it is good enough for the 
bank to take, and cannot be detected by them, he 
could use it without being detected. He is then 
met with a proposition that they would give him 


80 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


$1,000.00 for $250.00 cash and the money is placed 
in a grip or envelope and is then switched and the 
“sucker” gets nothing hut blank paper. After the 
exchange the “sucker” is accompanied to the train 
by the green goods man, at the same time impressing 
upon him the necessity of keeping the grip or large 
envelope in his possessino, and to not open it or ex¬ 
amine the contents until he reaches home and is 
alone. The “sucker” never complains for fear of 
being arrested for attempting to defraud the gov¬ 
ernment by handling counterfeit money. 

Fake Jewelry Swindlers —One of the most common 
swindles practiced in the large cities is the fake 
jewelry swindle. The swindler approaches some well 
dressed, prosperous person, generally a young man, 
exhibits a piece of jewelry, saying that it was stolen 
or found, and offers it for sale at a small price. 
When the purchaser finds he is “stung” he pockets 
his loss, fearing to expose his cupidity. A favorite 
place for these jewelry workers is on down town 
streets or around hotels. They always work at night, 
for it is hard to judge fake diamonds and other stones 
under a light. Another swindle is to offer a pair of 
supposed gold eye glasses saying they were found on 
the street or in some hotel toilet room. The eye 
glass game, as described above, is used by news 
agents on railroad trains throughout the country. 

Death Notice Fraud —The most despicable form of 
a fraud is the crook who robs the members of be¬ 
reaved families, especially widows and orphans. He 
watches closely the death notices in the large daily 
papers, and immediately expresses a package con¬ 
taining a Bible, a fountain pen, piece of jewelry, etc., 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 81 

addressed to the person who has just died. The 
article sent will be engraved with the initials or 
name of the deceased and will be accompanied by a 
receipt, showing that the deceased has paid a cer¬ 
tain amount on the article, leaving a balance usually 
from $2.00 to $20.00 due, or mails them shares of 
stock in a mining or manufacturing concern, the 
price of which is greatly in excess of the real value, 
and on which the deceased is supposed to have made 
a partial payment. The members of the family, de¬ 
siring to possess the last purchase of their beloved 
ones, will pay the balance, and afterward learn they 
have been defrauded. 

The Badger Game —This game is carried out by a 
man and a woman who are supposed to be husband 
and wife; the woman must be good looking, well 
dressed, etc.; they operate in the following manner: 
The woman selects some prominent man of affairs, 
goes to his place of business and induces him to visit 
her home; after he has done so, she confides in him 
that she is a married woman and that her husband 
is a traveling salesman and is rarely ever at home. 
After a visit or two the business man is confronted! 
in the home by the husband, who apparently becomes: 
enraged and threatens to kill them both. During; 
this argument, another person enters the room and 
advises the enraged husband to desist from his in¬ 
tention of killing, that the better way would be to> 
quit his faithless wife, at the same time demanding 
a cash settlement from the man who has ruined his 
home. The man generally settles to prevent an ex¬ 
posure. Another method of working the badger 
game is for a woman to entice a man of means to her 


82 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


apartments and while in a compromising position, 
have the room broken into by two or three men who 
claim to be detectives, who have been employed to 
shadow the woman for her husband in order to se¬ 
cure evidence for a divorce. They release the man 
and in a day or so he receives a letter from a lawyer 
requesting his presence at his office. If he complies 
with the lawyer’s request he is shown two or three 
affidavits signed by the supposed detectives and a 
signed statement from the woman, together with a 
copy of a proposed suit by the wronged husband for 
alienating the affections of his wife, the suit to be 
tiled immediately, unless he, the victim, settled for a 
good round sum of money. The whole thing is a 
frame-up and the couple probably work the game 
over the country. If the victim hesitates to settle, 
saying he will call later and consult his attorney, the 
woman in the meantime visits him at his place of 
business and begs him to settle, threatening to com¬ 
mit suicide right then and there—showing him a 
phial supposed to contain some kind of poison— 
unless some kind of a settlement is made. 

Legitimate detectives are often called upon to 
run down this class of swindlers. To my own per¬ 
sonal knowledge a great number of cases of this kind 
have occurred in the City of Charleston, West Vir¬ 
ginia. 


Chapter XIII. 

Private Detectives. 

In the State of West Virginia the law does not re¬ 
quire the private detective to be bonded, pay license 
to operate, etc. A detective employed by an agency 
or corporation does not need a license or commission 
as an officer of the law. The agencies and cor¬ 
porations have the necessary power to employ anyone 
to investigate any matter for them pertaining to 
their business. The successful detective does not 
make arrests, he gets the evidence, works up the 
case and lets the police, sheriff, constable or his su¬ 
perior officer make the arrest. The private detective 
who is trained by the correspondence schools does 
not follow the instructions given him, and through 
the lessons he is given it does not give him any 
experience in this line of work. I do not attempt to 
say that the detective training schools do not give 
the beginner a lot of valuable information, but most 
of the new beginners want to take out a license to 
carry weapons, wear a badge and exhibit his cre¬ 
dentials in a general way to the public. This, how¬ 
ever, is not the instructions of the training school. 
The making of a detective is not a simple matter— 
it’s not uniform or badges, nor medals of heroism; 
even natural ability does not make a great detective, 
without the proper training and experience. More 
and more the prosecuting attorney and the court de¬ 
mand proper evidence upon which to base convic¬ 
tions, thus it falls to the lot of the man who wants 
to be a detective to be scientifically trained and 
have considerable experience before going into court. 


84 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


The detective should acquaint himself with the 
law of extradiction. Extradiction means to extra¬ 
dite a prisoner from one state to another for a trial 
on a felony. Fugitives may be extradited from one 
state to another for any crime whatever. Proper pro¬ 
cedure to extradite a prisoner from one state to an¬ 
other consists of a lot of “red tape”. You must 
first make sure that the man under arrest in another 
state is the man wanted; then if the man has been 
indicted by the grand jury of your county, yo,u must 
secure from the clerk of the court a certified copy 
of the indictment. Your next step is to get affidavits 
from the clerk of the county court certifying that 
so and so is the prosecuting attorney of your county 
and that (blank) is the judge of the court; then 
the prosecuting attorney makes an affidavit stating 
that the man wanted is a fugitive from justice and 
that his arrest is not wanted to recover any damages 
or money in a civil action. After these papers are 
prepared they are taken before the Governor of the 
State, who issues a requisition on the Governor of 
the State in which the prisoner is confined, and em¬ 
ploys some citizen or officer as his representative or 
agent to convey the prisoner back to the state in 
which he is under indictment. Where no indict¬ 
ment has been returned, and a warrant has been is¬ 
sued for the person charged with crime, practically 
the above procedure is followed. In all cases of this 
kind it is necessary to first consult the prosecuting 
attorney. After you have arrived in the city in 
which the prisoner is confined it is best to consult the 
local officers first, as in many cases the person 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 85 


charged with crime is willing to return without the 
necessity of securing extradition papers. 

After you have your man, take him out of the 
state as quietly as possible to prevent his attorney 
from invoking the aid of the local courts through 
habeas corpus proceedings. Sometimes a Governor 
refuses to honor extradition papers, believing the 
prisoner will not be given a fair trial or is unjustly 
prosecuted. 










Chapter XIV. 


Description, or How to Describe Person 
Wanted. 

The detective must be able to recognize faces from 
a written or verbal description, should be trained to 
penetrate all disguises or altered appearance caused 
by burns, loss of flesh, scars, sickness, or through 
gaining weight; and he should familiarize himself 
with the proper method in receiving and giving de¬ 
scriptions. Some people have this natural accom¬ 
plishment; others must study and acquire it through 
training. 

It is easy for an intelligent person, with the proper 
training, to develop and remember faces. 

He should take pains to notice any peculiarities, 
pay strict attention to the color of the hair and eyes 
and remember that a man can change his appearance 
by letting his mustache or beard grow and by shav¬ 
ing his beard and mustache off. The beginner at his 
first glance only sees a confusion of curves, lines, 
eyes, a mouth, but notes nothing of a tangible form 
to enable him to memorize his face, but the ex¬ 
perienced detective analyzes every definite and ex¬ 
act characteristic, each of which he impresses upon 
his memory. The wearing of colored glasses, or the 
absence of glasses on one who constantly wears them, 
the dyeing of the hair, the crowning of a tooth in 
the mouth, or the absence of a tooth changes the ap¬ 
pearance of a person. These changes should be re¬ 
membered when the detective is trying to locate a 
party of any description. 

When the detective learns of a description of a 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 87 


person wanted for a crime, he mnst first commit to 
his memory the description of the face and general 
appearance, and he should remember the above 
changes in a description. The next step would be to 
ascertain where the person wanted visits or makes 
his home, his habits in general and who his associ¬ 
ates are. 

When taking a description the following ques¬ 
tions should be asked: Age, height, weight, color 
of eyes, color of hair, carriage of the person, scars, 
burns, deformed in any way, defects of the nose, 
bones, peculiarities of speech or walk, description of 
clothing generally worn, the kind of a ring the per¬ 
son wears, size of shoes, whether or not he uses cigar¬ 
ettes or tobacco in any form, what language he 
speaks, nationality, whether or not he is addicted to 
any drug habit. If you are unable to obtain a photo¬ 
graph, ascertain the name of his friends and try to 
persuade them to get you a picture of him. This 
will give you a general idea to work on. 

We will first describe the FOREHEAD. It is 
necessary to note the profile, whether or not it is 
straight, slanting, medium, low or high. Whether or 
not the frontal bones are prominent, whether the 
arches above the eyes protrude to any extent. Also 
note the difference between the frontal bones and the 
arches. 

The NOSE. The nose is either straight, concave 
or convex. The Roman nose convex, the Negro’s 
concave, a Grecian nose is called straight. The up¬ 
per portion of the nose between the eyes is called 
the root. It should be described as either prominent 
or not prominent. The elevation of the nose is ele- 


88 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


vated (slanting downward) level or depressed. By 
an elevated nose, we mean a png nose. 

When we speak of level, we mean a Grecian nose. 
A typical Jewish nose we call depressed. The ridge 
should be noted as very fleshy, or thin and bony. In 
many cases the nose is crooked, bending toward the 
right or left of the face, sometimes it is straight to 
the ridge of the center and then bends towards the 
right or left. 

The CHIN. This can be described as receding 
(slanting backward) or protruding, sometimes de¬ 
scribed as ball shaped, pointed or square, flat, some¬ 
times double or dimpled and containing an inden¬ 
tion. Sometimes the chin is hidden by a beard. In 
this case it is difficult to get a description of the 
chin. 

The CHEEK. There are many ways to describe 
the cheek, such as high, low or medium. Sometimes 
we say “his eyes give him the appearance of having 
high cheek bones.” When the jaw teeth are absent 
this causes hollow cheeks. 

MOUTH and LIPS. The mouth, eyes and lips 
give the expression of the face. The mouth may be 
curved downward, curved upward or straight, “giv¬ 
ing the expression of always smiling;” large, med¬ 
ium or small. The mustache greatly alters the ap¬ 
pearance of the mouth. In conversation a person 
will show the upper teeth or the lower teeth promi¬ 
nently. You may describe the lips as being thick, 
thin, full, bloodless, full color or pale, pouting or 
protruding. In working on a description, particular 
attention should be paid to the mouth and lips. 

The EAR. We describe the ear as long, short, 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 89 


thin rimmed, full rimmed, round or pointed, whether 
the ear slants forward or backward. Sometimes the 
ear hangs downward, caused by the constant use of a 
cap. Some ears are square and some round, and 
should be described as medium or small. The right 
and left ear should both be described as many per¬ 
sons’ ears are not the same. It is claimed that blood 
relationship has been determined by the shape of 
the ears. 

The HAIR. The hair should be described as 
coarse, fine, straight, wavy, curly, thick, thin and 
the color of same. The person with light hair is 
termed a blonde; black hair, a brunette, and is us¬ 
ually found upon a person with a dark complexion. 
When we speak of blue-black hair, it is the darkest 
hue and only found in the Indian, Latin or Oriental 
races. Hair may be changed in color by the use of 
chemicals; the blonde can be changed to a brunette 
and the brunette to a blonde. 

The COMPLEXION. The complexion may be de¬ 
scribed as medium, light, pale, sallow, dark, light 
reddish, ruddy, dark reddish, or full blooded, and 
the detective should bear in mind that confinement, 
sickness or use of drugs changes the complexion. 

WRINKLES. There are three vertical wrinkles 
evidenced above the root of the nose. Sometimes 
there are only two. Occasionally only one; if only 
one it should be noted relative to the center, right or 
left. In middle aged, or elderly people, wrinkles 
show either horizontally or vertically. They some¬ 
times extend entirely across the forehead and other 
times only half way. Wrinkles in a face may also 
be noted as extending from about middle ways of the 


90 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


nose towards the corners of the mouth. These 
wrinkles are in evidence when smiling. 

SOAKS. You should note all scars on the head, 
face or nose, on hands, deformed or crooked fingers, 
enlarged knuckles, discoloration of fingers caused by 
smoking cigarettes. Bums, moles, birth marks, tattoo 
marks should all be noted. 

The FACE. You describe the face as round, oval, 
full, long, narrow, thin or regular. 

The EYES. The eyes may be described as long, 
protruding, deep, “pop eyed”, outer corners droop¬ 
ing or elevated, squint, open, half closed or regular, 
also close together. 

The WEIGHT. The weight of a person may be 
judged within a few pounds. It is well to remember 
that an athlete is a well muscled man and his looks 
as to weight may deceive you. 







Chapter XV. 

Modern Methods of Detecting Crime. 

The method of finger prints at the present date 
seems to be the most efficient manner of identifica¬ 
tion. All the leading detective bureaus of the world 
use the finger print method. Thousands of sample 
finger prints will be found in their files. The de¬ 
tective and officer who is up-to-date, is trained to 
understand this method of identification. Leading 
experts all over the world accept the finger print as 
positive proof of identification. 

Special paper prepared for such purposes can be 
purchased from the Detective Publishing Company, 
Chicago, Illinois. 

Finger prints are readily made by coating the tips 
of the fingers with a fine layer of ink and pressing 
them upon specially prepared paper as described 
above. Finger print outfits and preparations for 
taking prints may be purchased from W. K. Evans, 
Director of Finger Print Department, Evans Uni¬ 
versity, Chicago, Illinois. 

Finger print experts claim to have records which 
will show that Chinese Monarchs used the thumb 
print as an identification one thousand years ago. 
Most experts claim that Sir William Herschel was 
the first to use them in India to identify documents. 

They are used by the United States Army and 
Navy for the identification of deserters who try to 
re-enlist. They are used by a great many banks to 
identify a depositor. A great number of corpora¬ 
tions use them for their employees to prevent the 
padding of pay-rolls and identification in case of ac- 


92 CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 

cident, etc. They are used by schools, colleges and 
universities during examinations where substitution 
is liable to occur. Attorneys also use finger prints 
on deeds, wills and other legal documents to estab¬ 
lish infallible proof of their geniuneness. 

Another method of identification is the Bertillon 
System, of which there are three chief parts, which 
means a general description, including the photo¬ 
graph. Part first—the physical measurements, of 
which there are only eleven parts. Part two—the 
general description of the prisoner, including his 
photograph. Part three—the record of scars and pe¬ 
culiar marks, such as tattoo, deformities, etc. This 
system is used in Europe, Asia, Africa, North Amer¬ 
ica, South America, Australia and the United States. 

In taking the measurement of a prisoner, it is 
customary for one man to take the measurements 
and call them off, while another writes them down. 

After a little practice it is possible to take the en¬ 
tire eleven measurements in about five minutes. 
This means taking the measurements and calling 
them off. 

The Bertillon Measurement System was invented 
by Doctor Alphonse Bertillon, of Paris, France. 
This system was first introduced in the United States 
in 1887 and is used in all the principal cities in the 
United States and at the large Federal prisons. 

The eleven measurements taken of each individual 
are all based on the bony structure of the body or 
skeleton. All experts claim that after a person ar¬ 
rives at the age of twenty-one that this measure¬ 
ment does not change. No other measurements are 
of any value. The Bertillon Measurement System 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 93 


can be secured in book form and all identification 
equipment by corresponding with Yawman and Erbe 
Manufacturing Company, Rochester, New York. 

Some years ago the only evidence allowed to be 
given in court as to handwriting was that of the 
writer himself, or someone who had seen the writing 
done, or who was acquainted with the handwriting 
in question. Handwriting experts are now to be 
found in most of the large banks in the United 
■States. These men are called to give expert testi¬ 
mony in all of the courts from justice of the peace 
up. It is a very common occurrence for a judge in 
summing up a case to the jury to emphasize the 
point that the evidence of the expert is only a mat¬ 
ter of opinion, and the decision rests with the jury. 

In order to detect forgeries on checks and legal 
documents, it is best to use the microscope, which 
frequently reveals erasing, etc., not visible to the 
naked eye. 

An erasure may be detected on any instrument of 
writing by holding the same between the eye and 
an electric light, and the microscope will show the 
ruffled fiber on the face of the paper. 

A very simple test that will reveal erasing is the 
use of iodine vapor which will often cause a blue 
coloration upon the moistened surface from which 
sizing had been removed, but will only color the re¬ 
mainder of the paper brown. 

The detection of a mechanical erasure, such as is 
mentioned above, is frequently indicated by the pa¬ 
per being thinner and more transparent at that 
place; it is often rendered more certain by a photog- 


94 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


rapher. If the document on which a suspected 
erasure is placed between a strong light and the 
camera, the negative will show a darkened area cor¬ 
responding to the place where more light was trans¬ 
mitted through the paper. 

Of recent years photography has supplied another 
valuable means of detecting alterations in documents, 
and it has been found particularly useful for demon¬ 
strating to a judge and jury the result of a micro¬ 
scopical examination. Photographic reproductions 
and enlargements have the advantage over chemical 
methods of not producing any alterations in the ink 
or paper, and in some instances is just as effective 
as the latter. 

All leading details of the writing and the texture 
of the paper you can record by the camera. A photo¬ 
graphic enlargement may then be made to any re¬ 
quired extent so as to obtain what practically 
amounts to a record of the microscopical appearance. 
This process has an additional advantage over the 
microscopical examinations, and a large portion of 
the magnified surface may be examined at the same 
time. In studying a document under the microscope 
you may restrict the view to a very minute portion 
of the surface. 




Chapter XVI. 


Proof of Positive Identification—the Finger 
Print. 

Crime is developing at a great rate, yet but com¬ 
paratively few police departments have provided 
themselves with the necessary instruction and equip¬ 
ment to successfully combat it. A vast majority of 
the police departments in this enlightened age con¬ 
tinue to pin their faith to the flint-lock musket of a 
by-gone day, while the lawbreaker eludes and evades 
and convictions grow fewer and farther between. 

The greatest factor in the detection of crime— 
the one indisputable incriminating evidence of 
guilt—the present tell-tale imprint of the finger, is 
more often overlooked than it is pressed into ser¬ 
vice in bringing the guilty to the bar of justice. 

Perhaps one of the greatest chief reasons for the 
lack of a world-wide use of the simplest known meth¬ 
od of directly connecting the criminal with his 
crime is the misconception of the utter simplicity of 
securing such evidence and the certainty of it. 

The following are a few of the great number of 
crimes committed in which the finger print alone 
played the important part and furnished proof of 
identification. 

JENNINGS CASE. 

On September 19, 1910, Clarence B. Hiller, who 
lived at 1837 104th Street, Chicago, Illinois, was 
murdered in his home, evidently by a burglar. 

The following morning Capt. Michael Evans and 
his son, Wm. M. Evans, of the Chicago Bureau of 


96 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Identification, went to the Hiller residence to look 
for finger prints. They found three on the newly 
painted porch railing. The rail was sawed off and 
taken to headquarters, where the prints were photo¬ 
graphed. 

Certain circumstances pointed to a negro, named 
Thomas Jennings, as the murderer, and he was ar¬ 
rested and his finger prints taken. They corres¬ 
ponded exactly with those found on the porch rail. 

Jennings was brought to trial before Judge Marcus 
A. Kavanaugh, at Chicago, and was convicted No¬ 
vember 11th. 

Jennings’ attorney fought against the admission 
of finger prints as evidence and argued that, as a 
means of identification, finger prints were unsubstan¬ 
tial. He was overruled by Judge Kavanaugh and 
four experts testified to the many points of simi¬ 
larity that existed between the prints found on the 
porch rail and those taken from Jennings’ fingers. 

One of the jurymen said, after Jennings had been 
convicted: “The finger prints, and the finger prints 
alone, convinced us that Jennings was guilty.” 

The case was taken to the Supreme Court of Illi¬ 
nois on appeal, but the verdict was upheld. In hand¬ 
ing down their decision the justices of the Supreme 
Court said: 

“When photography was first introduced, it 
was seriously questioned whether pictures thus 
created could properly be introduced as evi¬ 
dence. But this method of proof, as well as by 
means of X-ray and the microscope, is now ad¬ 
mitted without question. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 97 


“We are disposed to hold, from the evidence 
of the four witnesses who testified and from the 
writings w T e have referred to on this subject, 
that there is a scientific basis for the system of 
finger print identification and that the courts 
are justified in admitting this class of evidence. 

“Such evidence may or may not be of inde¬ 
pendent strength, but it is admissible, with other 
proof, tending to make out a case. If references 
as to the identity of persons based on the 
voice, the appearance or age, are admissible, 
why does not this record justify the admission 
of finger print testimony under common law 
rules of evidence. ” 

Jennings was hanged on February 16 1912, at 
Chicago. 


THE CHARLES CRISPI CASE. 

In the winter of 1911, the loft of H. M. Bernstein 
and Brothers, 1701 Wooster street, manufacturers, 
of ladies’ garments, was burglarized in the early 
morning. Finger prints found in the burglary were 
discovered to be those of Cesare J. Selle, alias Charles; 
Crispi, who, upon this identification, was arrested 
and indicted for the crime of burglary, in the sec¬ 
ond degree, second offense. At first, Selle’s at¬ 
torneys proceeded with the trial on a plea of not 
guilty, but after Joseph Faurot, the finger print ex¬ 
pert, had testified the attorneys for the defense with¬ 
drew the plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to 
the crime of burglary. Judge Rosalsky after the 
plea had been taken said to Selle: 


98 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


11 1 want yon to make a full confession. I 
can assure you that no indictment will be found 
against you or any witness who testified in your 
behalf in the course of your trial for perjury, 
but it is more for the interest of justice and 
science that you tell thq truth. It is invaluable 
for us to know whether or not the expert testi¬ 
mony given during your trial was correct or 
otherwise. The finger print experts are of the 
opinion that the science of identification, by 
means of finger prints, is more exact than the 
Bertillon System of photography. Did you re¬ 
move the pane of glass, in evidence here, from 
the door of the loft of H. M. Bernstein and 
Brothers V* 

The defendant answered that he did. In view of 
the fact that he had assisted the officers in helping 
to establish the authenticity of the finger print 
identification he was given a sentence of only six 
months. 


In the year of 1910, two men broke into a home 
in Flatbush; they were discovered and one of them 
shot a member of the household. One of the burglars 
was also shot, and his injury led to the arrest of 
the other. Finger prints of both were taken, but 
the New York Finger Print Files contained no rec¬ 
ord of the injured burgler. He insisted that he had 
never been arrested before and that he had, by 
chance, been induced to take part in the Flatbush 
burglary. Captain Faurot researched his files, but 



HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 99 


could find no duplicate of his finger print card; 
still there was something strangely familiar with 
one of his prints. Suddenly it came to him. Some 
months before, there had been a burglary in Brook¬ 
lyn, and upon a cut glass rose jar one of the thieves 
had left a thumb print, and a large photograph of 
this print was on file at the identification bureau. 
This photograph was compared with the impression 
of the wounded man, and found to agree with the 
print of his left thumb. Going directly to the hos¬ 
pital where the man was confined, Captain Faurot 
said to him: “When you broke into that house on 
Park Slope, three months ago, why did you not take 
that cut glass rose bowl?” “It was too heavy to 
carry away,” replied the man. 


In the Coppersmith case in Chicago, Russell 
Pethick, a grocery delivery boy, who murdered Mrs. 
Coppersmith and her baby boy, endeavored to put 
the officers on the wrong trail by giving the de¬ 
scription of a man he saw going into the Copper¬ 
smith home about the time of the murder, and when 
taken to the Bureau of Identification in that city, 
through a ruse, his finger prints were obtained and 
afterwards fourteen points of comparison were 
found in two fingers and on the bloody handle of 
the hammer with which he killed Mrs. Coppersmith. 
When confronted with his finger prints he pleaded 
guilty and is now serving a life sentence in the Illi¬ 
nois penitentiary at Joilet. 



100 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Another case of more recent date comes to my 
mind, where a clever identification was made. In 
San Francisco an expert burglar robbed several 
rooms in the St. Francis, the leading hotel of San 
Francisco. Among the people robbed was Miss 
“Billie” Burke, the celebrated actress, from whose 
room was taken about ten thousand dollars worth of 
valuable jewelry. There was no possibility of get¬ 
ting identification as to the thief; but a few days 
later an officer of the San Francisco police depart¬ 
ment arrested a man while attempting to dispose 
of some of the stolen jewelry. This man was a 
Swede or Norwegian named Peter Johansen, and he 
positively refused to give any information regarding 
himself. Through the kindness of Chief White of 
the San Francisco Police Department several copies 
of the man’s photograph were obtained and sent to 
Europe for identification, together with his finger 
prints, as it was the opinion that this man, who had 
only been in this country but a short time, had come 
from Europe for the purpose of operating in San 
Francisco during the progress of the World’s Fair. 
Chief White also wrote to Europe, enclosing pic¬ 
tures and finger prints of him, and we both got cop¬ 
ies from Superintendent McCarthy at Scotland Yard 
identifying the man, not alone by his photograph, 
but positively by his finger prints. He gave a long 
criminal history of Johansen, where he had served 
time in England, Sweden, South Africa and Aus¬ 
tralia. I consider this a marvelous case of identifi¬ 
cation, as the finger prints in all of these different 
countries compared with those taken in San 
Francisco. 


Story Section 


Author’s Announcement 

The stories following relate my experiences and 
those of other officers and detectives. They are stories 
of cases in real life, handled successfully by differ¬ 
ent officers of the law. The stories are educational, 
covering several branches of the detective profes¬ 
sion, both in police circles and private detective 
agencies. 

The detectives, the police officer and all peace 
officers may derive both pleasure and profit by a 
reading of these stories. 


Kufus H. Clendenen. 










































































Professional Bootlegging, 1915 - 1921 . 

(Written before National Prohibition became effective) 

Mountains subserve important uses of the economy 
of nature, especially with the water system of the 
world. They are at once great collectors and distrib¬ 
utors of water. But from time immemorial the moun¬ 
tains of the Virginias, Kentucky and Tennessee have 
been famed for things other than the uses of water. 

Who is there who has not read of the mountain 
character who relied upon his “still” in some brush 
covered cove to produce the mountain nectar from 
yellow corn that has waved its golden bannerets on 
those sun-kissed hills, and which has brought imag¬ 
ined happiness to the wearied soul of the mountain¬ 
eer—and not infrequently filled his heart with mur¬ 
der—for the juice of the yellow corn breeds danger¬ 
ous lightning in the blood. 

We have also read of the hatred these men have 
borne towards the law’s representatives, — the 
“revenu” officers and detectives. Of the many and 
bloody battles, of the stragetic moves adopted by the 
one and of the deadly aim of the other’s rifle. 

But this story deals not with the mountain “still” 
but rather with the new mountain, the “bootlegger” 
—the man who smuggles whiskey into dry territory 
in violation of the law and sells it to those -who 
are ready and willing to pay the price. 

The different dry states have raised a great crop 
of those “bootleggers” but West Virginia, in pro¬ 
portion to its size, has perhaps outstripped them all. 
In cities of 5,000 or more there are several “pro¬ 
fessionals” who vie with one another in their anxiety 


104 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


to break the law. By the “professional” is meant 
the man of means who is financially able to hire 
from one to a dozen men, or women, to work for 
him. These workers are called “runners” and 
when caught bringing more than one quart of “whis¬ 
key a month into the state, or selling or attempting 
to sell the liquor, they are frequently sentenced to 
serve sixty days in jail and fined $100, or more, 
while the “professional” goes unmolested. 

But the professional “bootlegger” invariably 
places the indelible mark of his nefarious profession 
upon himself, for he stands by his “runners” and 
secures for them the best of counsel, who continues 
their cases from term to term on one pretext or an¬ 
other, and if eventually convicted, he sees that they 
receive good meals while in jail, and when the sen¬ 
tence is finished he sees that the fine is paid. The 
old legend, that there is “Honor among thieves” 
seems to hold in these cases, for the “runner” never 
connects the man higher up, the “professional”, 
with his misfortune, and receives his confinement 
and punishment without a word of complaint. No 
doubt the man receives a financial consideration for 
his silence. 

It is estimated that in the City of Charleston, 
West Virginia, the State capital, which has a popu¬ 
lation of something like 40,000, there are at least 
two thousand persons engaged in violating the pro¬ 
hibition law. Hundreds are convicted each year. 
It is charged that there is lack of co-operation be¬ 
tween the Prohibition Department of the state and 
the municipal and county officers. The laxity in 
this respect on the part of municipal officers may 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 105 


be due to the fact that there is no fee attached to 
the conviction of violators of the prohibition law. 

The schemes invented to evade the law are about 
as remarkable and numerous as the violators them¬ 
selves. It is known that automobiles have slipped 
into the state carrying as many as thirty-two cases 
of whiskey, which is seven hundred and sixty pints. 
The “ bootlegger ’’ can buy the whiskey at $27.00 a 
case and can sell it in wholesale lots at $80.00 a 
case. Should he conclude to retail it he can get 
$5.00 a pint, out of which he must pay his runner 
$1.00. Thus it can be seen that the ‘ ‘ professional ’ ’ 
bootlegging business is a rather profitable enter¬ 
prise. 

It is remarkable the extent and the ingeniousness 
of the schemes adopted and devised in order to 
bring whiskey into the state. A short time ago a 
funeral procession wound its way slowly and ma¬ 
jestically down the turnpike that connects Ohio and 
West Virginia. An alert officer was impressed with 
the extreme seriousness of the driver of the hearse 
and the undertaker who sat by his side. The hearse 
was stopped and an inspection made, and to the 
surprise of the officer he found the hearse packed 
with cases of the rarest brands of whiskey. 

Farm houses and buildings are frequently used 
by the “professional ’ 1 to secrete quantities of whis¬ 
key until such time as it is safe to attempt distribu¬ 
tion. It is marvelous the amount of ingenuity that 
is being wasted in the construction of false parti¬ 
tions, sliding floors, window facings, door facings 
and traps and other devices that almost defy de¬ 
tection. The freight train is also used by the com- 









106 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


mon “bootlegger”, and daily deliveries are made 
of supposed coffee in huge sacks, while in reality 
the coffee is just around the outside, as the center 
of the sack is filled with whiskey bottles. 

It is surprising how many men of shady charac¬ 
ter and dishonest methods have grown in corpulence 
since the passing of the prohibition law. An in¬ 
vestigation of the person of some of those “big” 
boys have revealed specially made vests with various 
and sundry pockets which invariably contain a pint 
of whiskey. As many as twenty-four pints have 
been found in the pockets of one man. While en¬ 
gaged in the search of a Virginian train at the 
Chesapeake and Ohio depot in the City of Charles¬ 
ton one morning, the writer and Sam Fields, a lo¬ 
cal prohibition officer, noticed an unusually large 
colored preacher across the aisle from where we were 
standing. Fields approached the preacher and said 
“Good morning, Parson.” Fields and I engaged 
the colored man in conversation and soon confirmed 
our suspicion that the man was a “bootlegger” ow¬ 
ing to the fullness of his clothing. A search of the 
clothing of the supposed “Parson” disclosed an un¬ 
der-jacket made of bed-ticking, underclothing made 
of canvass containing pockets, thirty-six pockets in 
all, and each one containing a pint of whiskey. 
When taken from the coach to the platform it re¬ 
quired aid to get him from the seat, he was so bur¬ 
dened with contraband. 

Often I have taken from a person a caulking 
hammer with a bunch of oakum tied around it so 
as to hide from two to six pints of whiskey. I have 
relieved the male and female foreigner of corsets 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 107 


made of tin and shaped and soldered so as to fit 
the breast and abdomen, containing approximately 
-one gallon of liquor. The extra tires on automo¬ 
biles, copper lined, have been found to contain a 
large quantity of liquor. False bottoms, radiators, 
extra gasoline tanks, etc., have been confiscated con¬ 
taining gallons of liquors. I have frequently caught 
both men and women with from three to five hot 
water bottles on their person—and each bottle filled 
with whiskey. Violin, mandolin, guitar and banjo 
cases are frequently placed very carefully in the 
racks of passenger coaches and when inspected more 
often hold whiskey than musical instruments. 
Trunks and express packages are used as a means 
of conveyance, but the trained detective soon dis¬ 
cerns the odor coming from such articles, and when 
the goods are called for arrests follow. Even a cas¬ 
ket supposed to contain a corpse and bearing a doc¬ 
tor’s certificate has been found to contain “Old 
Crow” instead of the remains of some recently de¬ 
parted soul. A one-legged negro in Charleston cap¬ 
italized his misfortune by adopting and using a hol¬ 
low cork leg which would hold five gallons of whis¬ 
key. He was caught and a solid leg was substituted 
for the shell-like affair. 

Even the well-to-do people of this State who are 
possessed with an unquenchable thirst resort to all 
sorts of tricks to get whiskey either for themselves 
or friends. One prominent woman pretended to 
have broken her arm and it was discovered that the 
supposed injured member was bound with splints of 
half pints instead of pieces of wood. Even old saw 
mill boilers have been used to convey liquors into 


108 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


the state, to say nothing of milk cans, geg shells and 
dozens of other methods. The bootleggers were so 
numerous in this state a few months back that it 
was considered among themselves that some j plan or 
means of identification would soon be necessary to 
prevent wasting time trying to sell to one another. 
The officers might suggest a red badge. 

The up-to-date and modern bootlegger has gone 
all the rest one better. He has himself fitted with a 
corset which is hollow and has hinges at various 
points. The same enterprising variety of mankind 
also has similar outfits made of rubber or oil cloth. 

Several persons in this state have died from drink¬ 
ing wood alcohol, not knowing that it was deadly 
poison. A negro porter in a hospital was recently 
arrested and convicted of selling, to men of the back 
counties, alcohol which had been used in preserving 
freak babies. Another brand of drink which is 
made in sections of the state is called “cow cider ” 
and is in reality the juice from the grain and fod¬ 
der of the silo. It not only causes intoxication but 
carries with it a severe headache for several days 
thereafter. A hop brew called “old hen” is an¬ 
other of the strange drinks made for the purpose of 
making drunk come. 

Whether prohibition develops booze maniacs has 
not as yet been determined by the medical fraternity, 
but it seems to be a proven fact that human nature 
wants that which it is told it cannot have. Man is 
something like a marauding old muley cow. A 
muley cow will eat anything on top of this majestic 
earth that she can steal, from a hickory shirt to a 
temperance newspaper, and anything she can’t get 



These stills are 'products of the West Virginia Mountains. 






























































J 


































i 











> 






« 







HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 111 


through her throat she will chew and suck the juice. 
That is human nature to a T. Man values that 
which is hardest to get. I fear that until the law 
of nature is reversed the legitimate effect of prohi¬ 
bition will be blind tigers, mountain and cellar stills, 
the breeding of bootleggers and the sale and con¬ 
sumption of a death dealing brand of booze. 

We shall not commence at 1921 to 1922. The white 
corn nectar is now made in each little village, coal 
camp, oil fields and principal cities in the Virginias, 
Kentucky and Tennessee, and this mountain dew is 
flavored with ground ivy, drugs of different kinds and 
sometimes even lye is put into it to make it taste hot 
like whiskey of high proof. People are now com¬ 
plaining of the theft of their wash tubs, rain barrels, 
wash boilers, etc. Stills are made of zinc tubs, oil 
cans, ’milk cans, tin boilers, gasoline tubes, kettles, 
etc. 

They have a coloring (caramel) making the color 
of corn whiskey red. Dried peaches used as a “mash” 
makes the liquor yellow in color like peach brandy. 
About 75% of the stills captured are made of zinc 
vessels, tin and iron pipes, making a poison called 
“moonshine” which is killing people every day. 

In West Virginia you will find the moonshiners 
organized and assistance and aid given them from peo¬ 
ple in good standing. It is also the case in Kentucky 
and Tennessee. In the Blue Ridge and Cumberland 
mountains of Virginia moonshining has been going 
on since the civil war. They are an organized band, 
and when the approach of officers of the law is no¬ 
ticed, where no telephone system is used, they use a 
ramshorn, gun barrel, conch shells, high power rifles, 


112 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


etc., to warn the offenders of the approach of the of¬ 
ficers. Very often a woman will go to the back door 
of her home and call her cows at the hour of mid¬ 
night, using this method to warn her husband or 
other members of the family that officials are at the 
house or are near. The sounds made by these differ¬ 
ent signals can be heard for a long distance at night 
among the mountains and 80% of the contemplated 
raids of officers of the law on moonshiners and moon¬ 
shine stills are “tipped-off” in this manner. The 
old method of building fires of wood has given way to 
the more modern and less easy to detect method of us¬ 
ing gasoline or kerosene stoves, which method is a 
very good one, owing to the fact that no smoke arises 
from the fires and the light is very easily shielded 
from view. 

It has been worked many times that a man would 
come in from the mountains, disclose to officers of the 
law the location of a “still” and receive from said 
officers a small reward for the information. As soon 
as he leaves the officers he will return to the moon¬ 
shine region and tell the moonshiners that a raid is 
to be made on a certain day. In this way the in¬ 
former will receive a reward from both officers of 
the law and the moonshiners. 

When moonshine liquor cannot be obtained in the 
cities the “topers” resort to all kind of drugs to 
satisfy their thirst, such as hair tonic, pre-digested 
beef, Jamaica ginger, lemon extracts, all of which 
contain a certain per cent of alcohol. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 113 


Prohibition Amendment. 

Amendment of Section 46, Article 6 of the State 
Constitution, ratified by vote of the people at a gen¬ 
eral election held in the month of November, 1912, 
known as the Prohibition Amendment. 

“Sec. 46. On and after the first day of July, one 
thousand nine hundred and fourteen, the manufac¬ 
ture, sale and keeping for sale of malt, vinous or spir¬ 
ituous liquors, wine, ale, porter, beer or any intoxi¬ 
cating drink, mixture or preparation of like nature, 
except as hereinafter provided, are hereby prohibited 
in this State. Provided, however, that the manufac¬ 
ture and sale and keeping for sale of such liquors for 
medicinal, pharmaceutical, mechanical, sacramental, 
and scientific purposes, and the manufacture and sale 
of denatured alcohol for industrial purposes may be 
permitted under such regulations as the legislature 
may prescribe. The legislature shall, without delay, 
enact such laws, with regulations, conditions, securi¬ 
ties and penalties as may be necessary to carry into, 
effect the provisions of this section. ’ ’ 


An Act of Congress of the United States known as; 
the 


Webb-Kenyon Law. 


“An Act divesting intoxicating' liquors of their 
inter-state character in certain cases.” 


“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre¬ 
sentatives of the United States of America in Con¬ 
gress Assembled, That the shipment or transportation, 
in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of any 



114 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


spirituous, vinous, malted, fermented, or other in¬ 
toxicating liquor of any kind, from one State, Terri¬ 
tory or District of the United States, or place non¬ 
contiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof, 
into any other State, Territory or District of the 
United States, or place non-contiguous to but subject 
to the jurisdiction thereof, or from any foreign 
country into any State, Territory or District of the 
United States, or place non-contiguous to but sub¬ 
ject to the jurisdiction thereof, which said spirituous, 
vinous, malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquor 
is intended, by any person interested therein, to be 
received, possessed, sold, or in any manner used, 
either in the original package or otherwise, in viola¬ 
tion of any law of such State, Territory or District of 
the United States, or place non-contiguous to but 
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, is hereby pro¬ 
hibited. 


Postal Regulations—Parcels Post. 

The regulations of the United States Postal De¬ 
partment prohibit the shipment of intoxicating liq¬ 
uors by mail—the language of the rule being as fol¬ 
lows: 

“There shall be prohibited from the mails all spir¬ 
ituous, vinous, fermented or other intoxicating liquors 
of any kind.”—Section 16, paragraph 2, Parcels Post 
Regulations. 

Sec. 37. It shall be unlawful for any person to 
own, operate, maintain or have in his possession, or 
interest in any apparatus for the manufacture of 



HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 115 


intoxicating liquors, commonly known as “moon¬ 
shine still” or any device of like kind or charac¬ 
ter. For the purposes of this act, any mechanism, 
apparatus or device that is kept or maintained in 
any desert, secluded, hidden, secret or solitary place, 
away from the observation of the general public, or 
in any building, dwelling-house or other place, for 
the purpose of distilling, making or manufacturing 
intoxicating liquors, or which by any process of 
evaporation, separate alcoholic liquor from grain, 
molasses, fruit, or any other fermented substance, or 
that is capable 'of any such use, shall be taken and 
deemed to be a “ moonshine still ’ ’; and the owner or 
operator of any such “moonshine still” shall be 
deemed a “moonshiner”. Any person owning, op¬ 
erating, maintaining or having in his possession, or 
having any interest in any moonshine still, shall be 
guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall 
be fined not less than three hundred dollars nor 
more than one thousand dollars, and be confined in 
the penitentiary not less than two nor more than 
five years. Any person who aids or abets in the op¬ 
eration or maintenance of any moonshine still shall 
be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof 
shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor 
more than five hundred dollars, and confined in the 
penitentiary not less than one nor more than three 
years. 


Gunnoe Murder Case. 


On the banks of the Great Kanawha river, two 
miles above the City of Charleston, West Virginia, 
lived a dairyman by the name of Willard Gunnoe. 
Gunnoe, together with his wife and his wife’s sis¬ 
ter, Ocie Mullens, lived in a brown cabin surrounded 
by the picturesque mountains of West Virginia and 
five acres of fertile soil, on which grazed the milch 
cows of his dairy. The nearest cabin to Gunnoe’s 
place was about one quarter of a mile away. 

In the month of April, in the Spring of 1914, 
Mrs. Gunnoe was reported to have been found dead 
in her kitchen by Willard Gunnoe, her husband, and 
Ocie Mullens, her sister. The Mullens girl and 
Gunnoe had been to the barn, some seventy-five 
yards from the house, attending the cows. The 
alarm or report of the finding of Mrs. Gunnoe was 
given by her husband to neighbors. On information 
furnished to the Prosecuting Attorney of Kanawha 
County, that official instructed G. D. Acree, a con¬ 
stable of Charleston District, to investigate the cir¬ 
cumstances surrounding the case. The Prosecuting 
Attorney also requested the writer to work in con¬ 
junction with Mr. Acree in making the investiga¬ 
tion. 

On our arrival at Gunnoe’s house we started our 
investigations and found foot prints from a large 
foot on the kitchen cabinet and the condition of the 
room showed there had been a struggle. Our next 
step was to examine the body of Mrs. Gunnoe. A 
careful examination disclosed finger prints on her 
throat and bruises on her arms. Her lips and right 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 117 

side of her face were burned, apparently by car¬ 
bolic acid. These findings aroused our suspicions 
and we called Doctor 0. L. Aultz, then the county 
physician. Dr. Aultz advised a post-mortem exami¬ 
nation of the body, and all witnesses were hastily 
summoned before C. W. Dering, a Justice of the 
Peace of Charleston District, who acted as coroner. 

Mr. Gunnoe’s testimony before the coroner’s jury 
was to the effect that he, together with Ocie Mul¬ 
lens, were in the habit of going to the barn and 
milking before daylight in order to make early de¬ 
liveries of milk in the City of Charleston and sub¬ 
urbs ; that after completing their work they re¬ 
turned to the house and found Mrs. Gunnoe’s body 
lying on the kitchen floor. He stated that at the 
time he returned to the house day was breaking and 
he saw a man running from the kitchen door; that 
he and his wife had had no trouble and there was no 
reason for her committing suicide; that he was 
positive she had been murdered by the unknown 
man he saw running from the house. Mr. Gunnoe 
also stated that he hard no cries or commotion in 
the house whatsoever. Gunnoe showed no emotion 
over the matter and acted unconcerned. His actions 
caused no suspicion. Gunnoe had a long scratch 
from the left eye leading to the tip of the nose as if 
caused by a finger nail and when asked the question 
as to the cause of the scratch, he stated that while 
watering his horse down at the. river a sharp stick 
struck him in the face and made the scratched 
place. 

Ocie Mullens testified that she had heard no strug¬ 
gle or cries and that she had also seen the man run- 


118 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


ning from the house as Gunnoe had testified. The 
witnesses were not separated during the examina¬ 
tion and she corroborated Gunnoe’s statements. Af¬ 
ter the hearing of the evidence, the jury returned a 
verdict that Mrs. Gunnoe had been murdered at the 
hands of an unknown person. For the purpose of 
further investigating the matter, a warrant was 
sworn out for the arrest of Gunnoe and Miss Mul¬ 
lens on instructions from the Prosecuting Attorney 
and they were held without bond to await the action 
of the next grand jury. 

Constable Acree and I made repeated trips to 
Kanawha City and continued our investigations and 
found foot prints in the mud leading from the rear 
of the house to the barn and from the barn to the 
kitchen. About half way between the barn and the 
house we discovered tracks which led us to believe 
there had been a struggle at that point. One of the 
prints compared, with that found on the kitchen 
cabinet and the other tallied with that of Mrs. Gun¬ 
noe, showing that she and her husband had been at 
this point on the morning of the murder. To fur¬ 
ther bear out this point, Mrs. Gunnoe’s shoes were 
covered with mud. On our return from the Gunnoe 
house we visited the morgue and viewed again the 
body of Mrs. Gunnoe. Our purpose for the second 
examination was to try and determine, if possible, 
whether or not the scratch on Gunnoe’s face was 
caused by Mrs. Gunnoe during some kind of a strug¬ 
gle or fight. We examined beneath the finger nails 
of Mrs. Gunnoe and cleaned them out with a tooth 
pick. The result of this disclosed human flesh. 

Our next step in the line of evidence was obtained 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 119 


from the post-mortem examination made by Doctor 
Aultz, which disclosed that death preceded the ap¬ 
parent taking of the carbolic acid, as when her 
throat was examined it showed no discoloration. 

Gunnoe was indicted and tried in the Intermediate 
Court of Kanawha county for the murder of his 
wife. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of 
murder in the second degree, which carries a sen¬ 
tence of from five to eighteen years in the peni¬ 
tentiary. Judge II. K. Black sentenced Gunnoe to 
serve twelve years. Gunnoe resorted to all legal 
steps to avoid the serving of his sentence, carrying 
his case to the State Supreme Court, which court 
sustained the judgment of the court below. After 
failing in his purpose Gunnoe, while confined in 
jail awaiting transportation to the penitentiary re¬ 
quested permission to converse with the Prosecuting 
Attorney. This leave was granted and in the pres¬ 
ence of Hon. T. C. Townsend, then Prosecuting At¬ 
torney for Kanawha County, and the writer, Gunnoe 
confessed to the crime and stated that he killed his 
wife accidentally by strangling her to death. The 
altercation between them which led to the killing 
was caused by jealousy on the part of Mrs. Gunnoe, 
she accusing him of being intimate with her sister. 





Strange Creek Case. 


In September, in the Fall of 1915, the writer was 
called to Glenville, the county seat of Gilmer county, 
and. was also called upon about the same time by 
the Prosecuting Attorney of Braxton county in re¬ 
gard to the above case. 

Near Gilmer Station, on the then Coal and Coke 
Railway (now the B. & 0.) a young boy was rowing 
a small boat in Elk river and found the corpse 
of a fully developed baby about three months old. 
The boy was somewhat frightened at his gruesome 
find and went to the Town of Gilmer and reported 
the finding of the dead baby. For some time there 
was a question of jurisdiction between the authori¬ 
ties of Braxton and Gilmer counties, and after a con¬ 
ference between L. H. Barnett, Prosecuting At¬ 
torney of Gilmer county, and James E. Cutlip, 
Prosecuting Attorney of Braxton county, it was de¬ 
cided that Gilmer county had jurisdiction. 

I was then detailed on the case by Mr. Barnett 
and began my investigation the latter part of Sep¬ 
tember. No clue was in evidence and no informa¬ 
tion to start from. For several days I visited each 
little town on the Coal and Coke road between Or¬ 
lando in Lewis county and Clay Court House in 
Olay county. About ten days after I started my 
investigation I was lunching at a small hotel at 
Burnsville and heard a lady speaking of a young 
woman who had left. the station at Burnsville one 
night before the arrival of the B. & 0. train carry¬ 
ing a small baby and a yellow suit case. Upon in¬ 
vestigating this matter I found that a yellow suit 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 121 


case filling this description had been checked to a 
station a few miles away, called Strange Creek on 
the C. & C. railway. After securing all the informa¬ 
tion I could around Burnsville I went to Strange 
Creek and found out that a young lady who had 
been teaching school at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 
had returned home and lived on a farm up Strange 
Creek a few miles from Strange Creek station. No 
one suspicioned the young school teacher, whose 
name was Ora Wilson. She was from a good and 
respectable family which owned several farms in 
Braxton and Clay counties. 

I received at Strange Creek a description, as best 
I could, of Ora Wilson and went back to Burnsville 
with this description. I found it tallied with the 
one given me by the agent and the woman who had 
seen her leave the depot a few nights before. I 
then walked from Burnsville to G-assaway, a dis¬ 
tance of about fourteen miles, inquiring as I went if 
any one had seen a lady carrying a baby the night 
that she was seen at Burnsville. There is a little 
school house about one mile from the station at Gil¬ 
mer and I ascertained that a strange woman had 
stayed there all night alone. My next step was to 
proceed to Strange Creek where I gathered from 
dates which I had that Miss Ora Wilson had reached 
Strange Creek the evening after the woman had 
been seen in the school house near Gilmer station. 

Through an intimate friend of the Wilson family 
I found out that Ora Wilson had been stopping at 
Weston, the county seat of Lewis county, and that 
she had a three months old baby. This friend also 
advised me that she was at her home on Strange 


122 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Creek and that the baby was missing. After re¬ 
ceiving this information I satisfied myself that Miss 
Wilson was the party wanted for the drowning of 
the child. I secured a warrant for her arrest and 
went to Strange Creek and proceeded up Strange 
Creek on horse back. On my way up the Creek I 
tapped the telephone wires and learned from con¬ 
versations on the rural line that my presence and 
purpose in the neighborhood had been divulged to 
the Wilson family and others along the line. When 
I arrived at the Wilson home Miss Wilson was not 
there, and on account of it being a stormy night it 
was impossible for me to make any search at that 
time. The next morning Miss Wilson’s brother, who 
is a farmer, came to me at the place where I stopped 
over night and stated that his sister, Ora Wilson, 
had been out all night in the woods and wished to 
give herself up. Mr. Wilson said he would accom¬ 
pany me to Gassaway that night and we would then 
take the morning train there to Gilmer Station. 
When we arrived at Gilmer station the whole town 
and vicinity about two had turned out to see us, 
hundred in number. We hurried her from the train 
to a taxi-cab which was waiting and from there went 
to Glenville where she was placed in the county 
jail. Miss Wilson would make no statement and 
would not converse with me. Her brother remarked 
to me on different occasions that his sister was in¬ 
sane and that he was going to employ the best 
counsel to do what he could for her. He employed 
Senator Kidd, a very able attorney. At the pre¬ 
liminary hearing of Miss Wilson, held at Glenville, 
Senator Kidd waived examination and she was held 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 123 


without bond to await the action of the next grand 
jury. 

When the grand jury finished its work, it failed 
to return an indictment against her. The jury’s ac¬ 
tion in this matter, I have always thought, was 
brought about by Senator Kidd’s cleverness. He 
would take every farmer and citizen who would 
come to Glenville on business to see “the crazy wo¬ 
man up here in jail.” This caused the sentiment of 
the people to favor Miss Wilson and so many of the 
people and citizens of the county had seen her it 
was impossible to get a jury who was not in sympa¬ 
thy with her and she was released from custody. 










The Smith Gang*, or the Lucky Thirteen. 


In the year 1906, the Smith family, originally from 
Kentucky, moved to Crown Hill, West Virginia, a 
mining town a short distance from Charleston, 
known as one of the toughest little centers in the 
State of West Virginia. 

The father, W. H. “Bud” Smith, by occupation 
a miner, with a chief side line in making counterfeit 
ten dollar gold pieces, which he passed in poker 
games, at country stores and on persons who were 
unable to detect them. This counterfeit would only 
last a few days, as its color would change. The 
United States Marshal and other officers pursued 
him for about four years and about the year 1910 
found his molds in the “Black Cat” mine near 
Crown Hill. 

Tot Smith, a son of W. H. “Bud” Smith was a 
very young and desperate outlaw. While engaged 
in a friendly wrestling match at Crown Hill one 
Sunday evening, a young man by the name of Al¬ 
bert Summerfield threw Tot to the ground twice, 
when Smith became aggravated and shot Summer- 
field through the body. Mrs. Charles Summerfield 
interfered and tried to take the pistol from Tot and 
he discharged a shot into her body from which she 
afterwards died. Tot was apprehended for this 
murder and was incarcerated in the county jail for 
a number of months, when he became ill and one of 
Charleston’s best citizens aided and assisted him in 
getting a $5,000.00 bond. When his case was called 
for trial in the Intermediate Court he was absent 
and his bond was forfeited. His bondsman at this 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 125 


time detailed the writer to apprehend young Smith. 
In my investigation I found that young Smith 
would mail a package to his mother from some point 
in Oklahoma and his next letter would be mailed in 
Missouri or Kansas, never giving us a chance to ap¬ 
prehend him in any city from where he would com¬ 
municate. I made several trips to Kentucky, Ohio 
and Indiana and parts of West Virginia in an ef¬ 
fort to secure the proper information to effect his 
arrest, but he evaded me at all times. One winter 
day in 1913 I went to Crown Hill to capture him 
when he and his father quietly got into a row boat, 
each having a Springfield rifle and crossed the Ka¬ 
nawha river, leaving me behind. They took the 
mountain trail which is just back of Riverside, West 
Virginia, and not having anyone to assist me I did 
not follow them into the woods. 

My investigation quietly went on, and at all times 
I had the house of Richard Hager (his uncle), un¬ 
der survellience. On Friday evening, March 13, 
1913, (Lucky Thirteen) I received a telephone call 
which stated that two strange men were at the 
Hager home at Paint Branch on Cabin Creek. Be¬ 
ing w r ell armed, I summoned a local officer to ac¬ 
company me, but between Charleston and a stop on 
the C. & 0. called South Ruffner he gave up the 
trip and returned to Charleston. I then walked on 
to South Ruffner and caught what is known as the 
“Bull Moose ” train, a local C. & 6. freight, and 
went to Cabin Creek Junction and walked up to 
Paint Branch, a distance of five miles, arriving there 
just before dawn. 

Upon my arrival the Hager family was up mak- 


126 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


ing a fire in the kitchen stove when I knocked on the 
door. Mrs. Hager came to the door and asked me 
what I wanted. I stated to her that I had been in¬ 
formed that Tot Smith, who was wanted for murder, 
was in the house. She told me there had been two 
men from Kentucky staying with them for a few 
days but they had gone. By this time Richard 
Hager came through the house and told me that 
there were two strange men up stairs, but neither 
of them was Tot Smith or Bud Smith. I told them 
I wanted to look the situation over myself and 
started up the stairs. Mrs. Hager told me that if I 
went up the steps I would never come back alive, at 
the same time urging her husband to shoot me in the 
back. I went up the stairs where the children of 
Hager’s were sleeping and there were two young 
girls, aged about 12 and 16 years in the first room 
I entered. I examined the under mattress and 
found two feet which did not belong to either of the 
girls, which feet were between the mattress. I was 
satisfied that these were Tot Smith’s feminine feet. 
At this point I heard a door open and Bud Smith 
said, “You will take nobody from this house,” and 
saying this ran down the stairs. I ran down the 
stairs after him and he ran into the front room and 
picked up a Mauser rifle. I demanded at the point 
of my pistol that he drop the rifle, which he did. I 
did not fear Tot Smith and I was sure that it was he 
up stairs and thought he was securely hidden. I 
then told Bud Smith that I knew Tot was upstairs 
and that I was going to search the place. At this 
point Tot Smith knocked on the window while I 
was standing in front of the house and called to me 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 127 

and remarked, “Clendenen, if you won’t shoot, I 
will come down and give up.” I told him not to 
bring anyone with him and to come down the stairs 
with his hands up, which he did. I had their 
clothes brought to the front door where they dressed. 

Mrs. Hager proceeded to curse me and call me 
all manner of vile names till her husband made her 
cease. 

By this time breakfast was ready and the pris¬ 
oners asked me to allow them to eat. Over the pro¬ 
test of Mrs. Hager I sat down and joined them at the 
table. After breakfast both men requested me not 
to handcuff them and I complied with their re¬ 
quest, bringing them to Charleston to the Kanawha 
county jail. In this case I received a reward of 
$700.00. 

Fred Smith, a younger son, became a notorious 
burglar, having served a term in the state penitenti¬ 
ary for robbery committed in Boone county. He 
was arrested and convicted by the writer and mem¬ 
bers of the police department for highway robbery. 
While waiting to serve his sentence he made good 
his escape from the county jail, in company with 
another Smith, named Dot, convicted of the same 
crime. At this time fifteen prisoners sawed their 
way to freedom. 

W. II. “Bud” Smith was tried and convicted 
at Charleston in the United States Court for the 
Southern District of West Virginia and given a sen¬ 
tence of a number of years, which he served, and on 
returning died at Leewood on Cabin Creek, West 
Virginia, in the year 1919. 

Tot Smith was tried for murder and convicted 


128 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


and given eight years in the penitentiary at Mounds- 
ville. Serving about four years of this sentence 
he was paroled on good behavior and became a 
noted bootlegger, carrying liquor from Kentucky 
to the coal fields of West Virginia. While leaving 
Ashland, Kentucky, with a considerable quantity 
of liquor, riding in a coal car a special agent of 
the C. & 0. at Ashland saw him. Tot saw the spe¬ 
cial agent first and pulled his gun and instantly 
killed him. After this affair he escaped. Being in¬ 
dicted for this murder a reward was offered for his 
apprehension and about six months later he was 
accidentally arrested for hoboing and identified by 
Special Agent Johnson of the C. & 0. as Tot Smith. 
He was returned to Ashland Kentucky, tried for 
murder and convicted of murder in the first de¬ 
gree. He is now serving a life sentence in the 
Kentucky State Penitentiary at Frankfort, Ken¬ 
tucky. 







A Railroad Theft. 


During the holidays it is customary for railroads 
to employ what is termed “relief agents’’ or men 
who are experienced in railroad agent work, to take 
the places of men wishing to be absent during the 
holidays. 

The agent at Clendenin, West Virginia, on the 
Coal and Coke Railway, wanted to he relieved for 
ten days. H. Crawford Bosworth, alias R. W. Ed¬ 
wards, called on the train master of the Coal and 
Coke at Charleston, West Virginia, and advised him 
that he was a telegraph operator and had had con¬ 
siderable experience as station agent and that if there 
was a position open as “relief agent’* he would like 
to have the same. 

Bosworth was employed by E. 0. McGrain to re¬ 
lieve the station agent at Clendenin for ten days. 
At this time the oil fields were running in full blast 
and Clendenin was in the center of the field. Con¬ 
siderable money was taken in by the railroad from 
freight and passenger traffic during the holidays. 
At one time Bosworth had over four thousand dol¬ 
lars in his possession and the assistant agent became 
suspicious of him and notified one of the Clendenin 
banks just across the street from the depot to call 
and get about twenty-six hundred dollars, which he: 
knew should be placed in the bank. The bank did! 
so, leaving several hundred dollars in cash still in 
Bosworth’s hands. On Monday evening before Christ¬ 
mas, 1915, Bosworth came to Charleston, bringing 
with him several hundred dollars and never re¬ 
turned to Clendenin. The writer, being Special 


130 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Agent of the Coal and Coke system, was notified of 
the theft and I immediately started an investigation. 

No one was acquainted with Bosworth. No one 
knew of any of his relatives or place of abode. In a 
few days I understood that some of the references 
Bosworth gave to Mr. McGrain had been dead for a 
number of years. I gathered all the data and in¬ 
formation I could and consulted with the different 
employees, passenger conductors, etc. We received 
some information from a conductor on a local freight 
who stated that he had seen Bosworth over on the 
B. & 0. about Chillicothe, Ohio. I went to Chill i- 
cothe and made an investigation but received no in¬ 
formation or clue that would lead to his identity. 
On this trip I visited several small Ohio towns on the 
B. & 0. but failed to get any information as to my 
man. On returning from Chillicothe I purchased a 
-Cincinnati Post from the news agent, dated January 
26, 1916. In this issue of the Post I found a photo¬ 
graph of one Miss Myrta Snider, stating that she had 
been holding a “man’s job” on the B. & 0. at 
Orient, Ohio, which is on the B. & 0. S. W. Miss 
^Snider was in Cincinnati at the time seeking em¬ 
ployment and had made application to Miss Mar¬ 
garet Maxon, in charge of the State Cities Free Em¬ 
ployment Bureau in the City Hall. I went to Cin¬ 
cinnati and located Miss Snider and had an inter¬ 
view with her in reference to the description of Bos¬ 
worth. She stated that at one time she had a sweet¬ 
heart on the B. & 0. at Manchester, Ohio, by the 
name of H. Crawford Bosworth and she told me 
that he had married a girl by the name of Marjorie 
Smithson, a daughter of a blacksmith at Cuba, Ohio. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 131 


I followed this clue and found it genuine, hut found 
that the Smithsons had moved to Manchester, Ohio. 
I detailed one of my female representatives to make 
the trip to Manchester, Ohio, by way of Cincinnati 
and she went there under the disguise of an agent 
of the Prisoner’s Relief and Aid Society of Hunt¬ 
ington, West Virginia. The operative was in Man¬ 
chester but a few days when she made the acquaint¬ 
ance of Mr. Smithson, who was still engaged in the 
blacksmith business and informed him of her busi¬ 
ness, saying that she was appointing sub-agents on a 
nice percentage to work for her. He immediately 
informed her that his daughter Marjorie had been 
“down south” and had returned home and would 
be glad to assist her. My representative went to the 
Smithson home where she met Marjorie Bosworth, 
the wife of H. Crawford Bosworth. After gaining 
her confidence and employing her as an agent, she 
gradually extracted from her the information that 
Bosworth was in business in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Upon receiving this information from my repre¬ 
sentative I immediately started for Atlanta, Georgia, 
and on my arrival there went to police headquarters. 
The chief of police at Atlanta detailed two of his 
best detectives at that time, namely: Hollingsworth 
and Sturdevant to assist me in locating Bosworth 
and making the arrest. After two days of investi¬ 
gation we found that Bosworth had owned a pool 
room at No. 249 Whitehall street, but had sold out 
and had left the city. The detectives gave up the 
case when they were assured by persons whom they 
trusted that Bosworth was not there any longer. I 
then started the investigation myself and in two 


132 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


days I had Bosworth located and called the two 
detectives above mentioned. We arrested him as 
he was entering a fashionable rooming house. When 
told we wanted him for the embezzlement, he said 
he would not return alive and started to fight. We 
were compelled to give him a severe beating before 
he was subdued. After the fight, he and two other 
crooks were taken to the hospital which adjoins the 
city hall. Bosworth engaged the services of Lawton 
Nalley as counsel and for several days fought re¬ 
quisition papers. We were granted an audience at 
11:45 on Saturday morning before the Governor. 
Mr. Nalley called us at the State House forty-five 
minutes later stating that he had withdrawn from 
the case. Governor Harris of Georgia immediately 
honored the requisition of Governor Hatfield of West 
Virginia and we left with Bosworth for West Vir¬ 
ginia. 

After Bosworth’s arrival in Charleston we received 
telegrams from numerous railroads and bonding 
companies who wanted him. The reward would 
have amounted to about $2500.00 in all, but while 
confined in the county jail, Bosworth made the state¬ 
ment that if the bonding companies would not al¬ 
low him to settle for all the thefts he had committed 
that he would not be tried. A week before the con¬ 
vening of the grand jury, Bosworth in some myster¬ 
ious manner sawed his way from the jail and 
escaped. 


Holly Griffith—West Virginia’s Most Noted 
Criminal. 

A little over thirty years ago there was born in 
Harrison county, West Virginia, near the City of 
Clarksburg, a young man by the name of Holly 
Griffith. Griffith was born of poor parents and had 
very little chance to secure an education. The 
thought never entered the minds of his parents that 
their child would turn out to be the case-hardened 
criminal and murderer that he is, but such was his 
fate, as never before in the annals of history of 
criminals in the State of West Virginia has there 
been a man who led such a spectacular life of crime 
as did Griffith. 

In the month of May, 1915, Chief of Police Orden 
Thompson, of Gassaway, West Virginia, while at¬ 
tempting to arrest Holly Griffith on a warrant charg¬ 
ing him with passing bogus checks, was shot and 
fatally wounded by Griffith, and a bystander shot 
in the leg. As Griffith ran from the scene of the 
shooting, he turned and told the crowd that had 
gathered, “Don’t any of you men follow me.” He 
left Gassaway going toward Gilmer county. 

A mob was soon formed of Braxton and Gilmer 
county citizens and the man hunt was on. The 
posse followed him through Braxton, Gilmer and 
Jackson counties, and at times were only one mile 
behind Griffith. Griffith showed cleverness in going 
to farmers and using the Citizens Telephone lines 
and several times turned the mob back by giving 
them the wrong information as to his own trail. 

At one time in Gilmer county, the prosecuting at- 


134 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


torney and other members of the posse who were 
driving in automobiles came upon a man near a lit¬ 
tle creek bank and almost surrounded him. This 
man was Griffith and he picked out the prosecuting 
attorney, who was talking to him at the time, and 
shot several times at the telephone pole behind which 
the prosecuting attorney was hiding, splinters flying 
in every direction. This posse claimed to be un¬ 
armed and Griffith escaped. 

The next time he was seen was near Ravenswood 
in Jackson county by a posse there. He knew that 
he was surrounded and had no chance of escape. 
Griffith came down to the county road from the edge 
of the hill and displayed two automatics, a deputy 
sheriff’s badge and a pair of handcuffs, asking the 
posse if they were trying to apprehend Griffith. 
They told him they were and he replied: “I have 
seen him and will get in your car and assist you in 
finding him.” Griffith rode about three miles in 
this car. At this time his left hand was bandaged 
from a bullet wound inflicted while in the scuffle with 
Thompson at Gassaway. Griffith saw some other 
cars coming in the opposite direction and figured 
that he would be captured. He had the car he was 
riding in stopped and said he would go into the 
hill and search for him. When the two posses met 
they discovered that Griffith was the man they 
wanted and went into the hill and separated and 
tried to surround him. He evaded them by taking 
a boat and crossing the Ohio river near Ravens¬ 
wood. He was shot in the head while in the boat, 
which was only a flesh would and when he went up 
the bank on the other side his right shoe heel was 



Holly Griffith alias F. S. Rose 

Serving three life sentences in Moundsville State 
Penitentiary and will be tried for the murder of 
Jeff Goff, a constable of Wirt County, West Virginia , 





























■ « l < k 


« 


V 




9 


■ 































* 
















* 


* 













HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 137 

shot off. He then went about three miles from 
Ravenswood into the country and got information 
from a farmer as to the telephone connections, etc., 
and talked with the posse over the telephone, telling 
them that Griffith had gone in another direction 
and threw them entirely off the trail. At this farm 
house he had them prepare a meal as he had not 
eaten in four days, being continually on the “go”. 

Griffith then went to Parkersburg, where he stayed 
a few days and while there visited his wife. He went 
from Parkersburg to Wheeling, West Virginia. 
While in the act of boarding a B. & 0. train bound 
for Pittsburgh an officer attempted to arrest him 
and he knocked the officer down, and I have been 
informed that the officer’s leg was broken in the 
scrap. Griffith then went to Pittsburgh, where he 
pawned one of his automatics and from Pittsburgh 
went to East Youngstown, Ohio, on a freight train. 

I had secured information that he had sent his 
wife a post card from Pittsburgh and that he was 
on his way to Youngstown. I was at this time City 
Detective for the Police Department of Charleston. 
One day while searching the waste basket (this in 
the month of May, 1915) I found a letter addressed 
to the Chief of Police, asking him if he wanted a 
man by the name of Rose, for a crime, stating that 
he was under arrest for resisting an officer, carrying 
concealed weapons and hoboing at East Youngstown, 
Ohio.. This letter was signed by the Town Mar¬ 
shal of East Youngstown, James Murray. Murray 
stated that he had blank checks from the Kanawha 
Valley Bank of Charleston, West Virginia, on his 
person when arrested and also that he had a flesh 


138 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


wound in his left hand. I asked permission of the 
Chief of Police to investigate this letter and advised 
him that it was my opinion from the information 
that I had secured before that it was Griffith who 
was apprehended at East Youngstown. I sent sev¬ 
eral telegrams and told them that we wanted Rose 
in this county for a forgery. As soon as I was satis¬ 
fied that the man was Griffith I went to East Youngs¬ 
town, Ohio. I arrived there and presented my war¬ 
rant for S. F. Rose on a forgery charge and asked 
him if I could not speak privately with the pris¬ 
oner. I was granted permission and was placed in 
a cell 6x10 feet with Rose. Rose (Griffith) informed 
me that he was not able to talk much as the au¬ 
thorities had been giving him a “ sweating” for two 
days in order to get him to tell where he was from 
and what he was wanted for. They had kept him 
two days in this cell with a large Burnside stove, 
which is usually found in small school houses, going 
full blast. They gave him very little water and 
nothing to eat. Still Griffith refused and would not 
talk. I told Rose his right name and said, “ Holly, 
I remember you distinctly. When you were in 
Charleston your chum was Grover Roush and you 
are the same man that visited a certain dive on 
Dryden street, and the same that gave Lawrence 
Beller a bad check for $100.00 for a motor boat. ” 
I also told him that the scar that was on his left 
hand was caused by a bullet wound when he shot 
and fatally wounded the Chief of Police at Gassa- 
way.” He then opened up and said to me: “Clen- 
denen, I thought several times of writing you a let¬ 
ter and telling you where I was so that you would 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 139 

come and get me and return me to either Wirt or 
Braxton county for a trial for the crimes that I 
have committed, and as you are ‘on to me’, and if 
you will agree to take me to the Clarksburg jail and 
leave me there until I am tried in either county, I 
will go back with you without requisition papers, 
but please go and get me something to eat as I am 
suffering from hunger. ” 

I told Griffith not to do any talking until I could 
investigate the charges against him to see whether or 
not I could get the authorities to allow him to go 
back to West Virginia on charges of forgery. At 
this point, I want to state that I tried to get an 
officer from either Youngstown or East Youngs¬ 
town to accompany me to Charleston with Griffith 
but without avail. My purpose in asking this was 
that a large reward had been offered for the arrest 
and detention of Griffith and I felt that the officer 
who had arrested him in Ohio should get his share 
of same, but could not afford to give them full de¬ 
tails as they were holding him on two charges in 
Mahoning county, Ohio. 

After several days’ deliberation, the prosecuting 
attorney of Mahoning county agreed for Griffith to 
return with me on a forgery charge and I brought 
him back, arriving in Charleston May 24, 1915. It 
has been stated by the press that Griffith attempted 
to assault me in a restaurant in Pittsburgh, but 
this is not true, as he was a model prisoner at all 
times while in my care. It was not necessary to 
handcuff him—this being one of our agreements 
when he agreed to return without the necessary 
papers. 


140 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


By some mysterious manipulation of “police rou¬ 
tine’’ Griffith was taken from Charleston to Sutton 
by another officer of the Charleston Police Depart¬ 
ment and the whole credit for his apprehension and 
arrest was given to another member of the depart¬ 
ment, which was unjust in every sense of the word. 
Neither of these officers were familiar with the 
crimes Griffith had committed and had not devoted 
one moment of their time in looking up data in re¬ 
gard to him which might have led to his appre¬ 
hension. 

When Griffith’s case was called for trial at the 
county seat of Braxton county I assisted Hon. James 
E. Cutlip, the prosecuting attorney of Braxton 
county, in the prosecution. While on the witness 
stand I related Griffith’s confession to me, which was 
as follows: 

“I was born of poor parents near Clarksburg, 
West Virginia, and have worked considerable of 
my time at hard labor and had very little 
chance to secure an education owing to the 
financial standing of my parents. I have only 
been married a short time, living near Elizabeth 
in Wirt county. While dealing at a country 
store in the neighborhood I gave a merchant a 
check for merchandise which was turned down 
by the bank and a warrant was issued for my 
arrest and placed in the hands of Jeff Goff, a 
constable of Wirt county. Goff came to my 
house one night in the winter of 1914 with a 
warrant for my arrest. He knocked at the 
door and I asked him who was there. He stated 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 141 


his business and said if I did not open the door 
at once he would kick it down, which he did. 
My wife told him I would go without any trou¬ 
ble and he began cursing and swearing. He 
shoved my wife to one side and came at me in 
an angry way. I reached for my pistol and 
shot Golf. He went outside through the door 
and some of his friends came to his rescue and 
carried him home. There is no doubt in my 
mind but what Golf was drunk on this night as 
I had never done anything to him and was 
afraid that he would do me bodily harm. I 
left my little cottage that night and walked sev¬ 
eral miles and came to Charleston. I stayed 
around Charleston for a few weeks in company 
with Grover Roush and assisted him in selling 
liquor. I went to a house boat near the Kana¬ 
wha river bridge and contracted a deal for a 
motor boat with a man by the name of Lawrence 
Beller, giving him a bum check for $100.00 for 
the boat. I left in the boat and he became sus¬ 
picious of the check and was advised by one of 
the Charleston banks that it was bad. Beller 
’phoned to Lock Ten on the Kanawha river and 
got me on the telephone there. He told me the 
check was bad and I told him that if it was bad 
that there must be some mistake about it; but 
this was not a fact—the check was a forgery. 
He told me he was coming down to get his boat 
and I told him that if the check was bad to 
come on and get it that it would be there. 

“I left the boat and went to a little place 
called Robertsburg, in Putnam county. I stayed 


142 CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 

there a few days and gained the confidence of 
some old people at a farm house. When I left 
I showed them my deputy sheriff’s badge, two 
pistols and handcuffs and told them I was go¬ 
ing in the country after a man who was wanted 
for murder. I gave them a bad check for my 
board bill and secured $28.00 in cash. I then 
went to Clarksburg and again met my relatives 
and came from Clarksburg over the B. & 0. 
to Burnsville. I went from Burnsville to Sut¬ 
ton and deposited a check for $500.00 on a 
Clarksburg bank, which check was a forgery. 
I then passed several checks at Gassaway on 
the Home National Bank of Sutton, drawing on 
the account. For these checks Orden Thompson 
secured warrants and tried to apprehend me. 
When he approached me with the warrants, 
which I learned later were for bad checks, I 
thought it was a warrant for my arrest in con¬ 
nection with the killing of Jeff Goff in Wirt 
county. I resisted arrest and shot Thompson 
and in the scuffle shot a bystander who was 
near. This occurred in a little store at Gassa- 
way. I was at one time with the mob while they 
were looking for me and talked several times 
with the posse over the telephone. This bunch 
seemed to be a bunch of cowards. I do not be¬ 
lieve I should be convicted for either murder, 
because I think I acted in self-defense in each 
case. I admit I did wrong in forging checks 
and trying to get by with it—it is one of my 
mistakes. I can show you fence posts near 
my home in Clarksburg filled with steel jacket 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 143 


and lead bullets fired from the pistols which I 
carried. I did this in order to become a sure 
shot and thought maybe sometime I might need 
my pistols to defend myself.’’ 

Holly Griffith made several desperate attempts to 
escape from the Moundsville State Penitentiary. 
At one time he was hidden in a shop in which he 
worked and had prepared a dummy made of a pair 
of trousers, an old coat and other clothing and put 
it in his cell in a position that would look like a per¬ 
son. The guard discovered this was a dummy by 
speaking to Griffith and when he found that Griffith 
was not in the cell, they made a search of the shops 
and found him concealed there. 

On January 6, 1921, Griffith succeeded in making 
a daring escape from the institution. He first set 
fire to several buildings and then proceeded to the 
power house in an attempt to destroy the lighting 
system. A fellow inmate interfered with Griffith 
in this attempt and Griffith immediately drew a knife 
and stabbed the fellow so severely that his death re¬ 
sulted. He also assaulted several other inmates and 
scaled the walls. In going over the wall he passed 
within fifteen feet of a guard who was so excited 
that he permitted Griffith to make his escape. 

Griffith came down the Ohio river on foot and by 
freight train and stopped at a house on the Ohio 
side of the river where lived a family by the name 
of Roush. One of the sons, a young man, owned a 
motor boat which was for sale. Griffith induced 
him to run him to Portsmouth where he said he 
would draw money out of the bank and purchase .the 


144 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


boat. After they had traveled a short distance 
Griffith shot the young man in the back of the 
head and then finished the job by beating him over 
the head with the butt of the gun, throwing him into 
the Ohio river. Griffith then proceeded alone to 
Portsmouth. Just as he was landing the motor boat 
several persons acquainted with young Roush in¬ 
quired of Griffith where he was, to which Griffith 
replied that Roush had gotten off in the east end of 
town and would be down soon. Griffith then landed 
the boat on the Kentucky side of the river at a 
place called South Portsmouth, and was never seen 
again until he was captured. 

Griffith was captured in Greenwood, South Caro¬ 
lina, by policeman C. T. Nelson and turned over to 
Newberry county officers for the robbery of the 
Post Office, Express Office and three stores at Silver- 
street in that county on the night of January 24th. 
He confessed to all the robberies when arrested. A 
blank check has been the cause of Griffith’s arrest 
each time. When apprehended at East Youngstown, 
Ohio, a Kanawha Valley Bank check was found on 
his person and this information led up to his ar¬ 
rest. When caught at Greenwood, South Carolina, 
a blank check from a Moundsville bank was found 
on his person which led to his identity. The follow¬ 
ing is a facsimile of one of Griffith’s forged checks 
given in the City of Charleston, West Virginia, un¬ 
der the assumed name he used—“S. F. Rose”. 





















































HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 147 


My information is that when Griffith was arrested 
he had upon his person four pistols, two razors and 
two pocket knives. No doubt this was one of Grif¬ 
fith’s clever tricks to get a short term in the Fed¬ 
eral prison for the post office robbery in order to 
evade the officers who were on his trail to collect the 
$1000.00 reward which was offered for his appre¬ 
hension. I understand that Griffith smiled and 
made a full confession of all his criminal actions to 
the authorities at the Newberry county jail. This 
was one of his polite ways in deceiving the public. 

Griffith was returned on requisition papers to 
Moundsville, West Virginia, and tried in Marshall 
county for the murder of his fellow inmate. The 
jury returned a verdict of guilty and he was again 
sentenced to life imprisonment. After this trial 
Griffith was taken to Point Pleasant, the county 
seat of Mason county and tried on the charge of 
killing young Roush. The jury there also returned 
a verdict of guilty and he was again sentenced to 
life imprisonment, this making three life sentences 
he is now serving in the State penal institution. 

At each of his trials Griffith in some way managed 
to either quote himself or have quoted to the jury 
the following from the Bible: “Do not take that 
which you cannot give.” 

Griffith still stands charged with the murder of 
Jeff Goff in Wirt county in 1914, and it has been 
intimated that he will be tried for this crime, in an 
endeavor to hang him. He is the only man in the 
United States now serving three life sentences. 


A Moonlight Tragedy. 


At one A. M. on the morning of March 26, 1921, 
T. E. Martin, a Justice of the Peace for Loudon 
District, Kanawha County, West Virginia, together 
with Special Officers Pete Tyler, Lawson Tyler and 
George Jarrold, conducted a raid on the Davis 
Creek section, three miles from the City of Charles¬ 
ton. The party was in search of moonshiners, and 
during their progress from the mouth of the creek 
they discovered a large mash box containing about 
two hundred gallons of sour corn mash hidden in 
the underbrush in a small ravine above what is 
known as Jack Dodson’s farm. 

The officers, on finding the mash, came to the 
conclusion that the ones interested in it would return 
soon and start their run. In carrying out their 
plans, the officers concealed themselves and awaited 
the return of the moonshiners. It later developed 
that the moonshiners had seen the officers approach¬ 
ing and had hidden in the thick underbrush. Two 
of the moonshiners rose from their hiding place and 
Pete Tyler discovered them, saying to Martin: 
“Tom, there are two men.” Martin immediately 
arose from the ground and promptly raised his shot 
gun to his shoulder with the command to “throw 
up your hands,” Pete Tyler rising at the same 
time. No sooner had these words been uttered by 
Martin than a volley from the hillside echoed through 
the still night and Martin and Tyler fell to the 
ground, Martin with a bullet wound in his neck 
and Tyler shot just below the left eye. After the 
volley Lawson Tyler and Jarrold filed from the 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 149 


scene, and reaching the nearest telephone notified 
members of the Charleston Police Department, who 
together with J. Walter Bee, Prohibition Officer; 
Clark Martin, a Constable for Charleston District, 
and other officers left immediately for the scene of 
the shooting. 

On reaching the scene the injured men were 
placed in an ambulance and rushed to the Saint 
Francis Hospital in Charleston where four days 
later Martin died, Tyler recovering from his wound. 

On delivering the men to the hospital a posse 
was formed under the command of J. Walter Bee 
and Clark Martin and left for Davis Creek with 
warrants for Jim Richards, Gilbert Hall, Jim Smith, 
Deward Huffman, Charles Aldridge, Arthur Hudson 
and Herman Hudson. These men were brought be¬ 
fore G. D. Acree, a Justice of the Peace, charged 
with the shooting of Martin and Tyler. They were 
placed in the county jail and held without bond 
awaiting the outcome of Martin’s injuries. They 
were later charged with murder and released from 
custody under heavy bonds. After the preliminary 
examination Deward Huffman, Arthur Hudson and 
Herman Hudson were released from custody and 
Richards, Hall, Aldridge and Smith were held to 
await the action of the grand jury. 

The author was absent from the city at the time 
of this murder on his farm at Rural Retreat, Vir¬ 
ginia. I was advised by wire of the crime and im¬ 
mediately left for Charleston and on my arrival was 
given personal charge of the investigation. Having 
a very good idea of who the assassins were, I im¬ 
mediately began work on the case. My knowledge 


150 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


of who the guilty men were came from several trips 
I made with Squire Martin and other officers into 
this locality where Martin was killed. 

At that time I had information that this mash be¬ 
longed to Jim Richards and others. 

The prisoners all employed the same counsel and 
were advised to do no talking. It was at all times 
impossible to get any statements from them relative 
to the shooting and their whereabouts on the night 
of the shooting. 

In my investigation I saw that a mistake had been 
made by these men being apprehended before there 
was an investigation made as to the shooting, be¬ 
cause as soon as they were apprehended their wives 
and relatives began arranging an alibi for each man, 
and Davis Creek being a moonshining neighborhood, 
and clannish, it was easy for this sort of evidence to 
be secured for the defense. 

After the indictments were returned Richards 
would make frequent trips to Charleston declaring 
his innocence and talked as if insane upon the 
streets, remarking that he knew a lot about the 
murder but was not guilty and was afraid that his 
life would be taken because he had informed on the 
other prisoners. 

One beautiful spring day before the trial the 
sheriff was notified that Jim Richards had been mur¬ 
dered and burned up in his log cabin home on 
Davis Creek. Deputy sheriffs were sent to the scene 
to make an investigation, bringing back with them 
what seemed to be the bones of Richards tied up in 
a piece of cloth. These bones were shown to the 
writer as soon as they returned. I saw immediately 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 151 


that they were not the bones of a human body. I 
immediately left for the scene of the fire and col¬ 
lected a number of small hones and turned them over 
to Dr. W. P. Black, County Coroner, who was as¬ 
sisting in conducting the investigation. We then 
held a consultation with the prosecuting attorney and 
the State Fire Marshal. The Fire Marshal immedi¬ 
ately filed a complaint and had a warrant issued for 
the arrest of Yenie Richards, the wife of Jim, for 
the burning of her residence. She refused to give 
any statement regarding the fire and murder, other 
than to remark: 

“Jim and I were sitting in our little cabin 
on Davis Creek when a rap came to the door 
and some one requested admittance. On open¬ 
ing the door, thinking that it was some of our 
neighbors, five masked men pushed their way 
through to where Jim was standing and said, 
‘Jim, we have come for you and are going to 
put you out of the way.’ Jim saw that he was 
up against it and said, ‘Well you have me,’ and 
picking up the old banjo, which was a family 
relic, handed it to me and said: ‘Venie, you 
take the old banjo and keep it, I may never see 
you anymore.’ I ran from the house and as I 
started up the hillside I heard a pistol shot 
and knew that poor Jim had been murdered. 
I turned and saw the house was in flames and 
everything was silent. I never seen poor Jim 
anymore. ’ ’ 

With these remarks she burst into tears. 

She was placed in the county jail and could not 


152 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


arrange bond for her appearance. Doctor Black ex¬ 
amined the bones that were found in the ruins of 
the home and discovered what were supposed to be 
human bones were really sheep bones which had been 
sawed with a meat saw in a butcher shop. The saw 
marks were very distinct. We gave Mrs. Richards 
every chance to make a true statement but she re¬ 
fused and the above story was repeated to every¬ 
one who interviewed her, even her close friends. 

The search was then instituted for Jim Richards. 
Several Charleston citizens were on his bond as 
surety in the sum of six thousand dollars. A close 
watch was kept for mail* that might come to Mrs. 
Richards and after a patient vigil, Henry A. Walker, 
Sheriff of Kanawha, discovered a telegram for Mrs. 
Richards from some man in Boone’s Mills, Virginia. 
After a careful investigation he located Richards in 
Rocky Mount, Virginia, and had him arrested, re¬ 
turning him to Charleston where a reward of two 
hundred dollars, had been offered for his appre¬ 
hension by his bondsmen, this reward going to J. P. 
Hodges, Sheriff of Franklin county, Virginia. The 
writer at this time was at the Ponce de Leon Hotel 
in Roanoke, Virginia, making an investigation as 
to the character of Jim Smith, etc., and while there 
iftet Sheriff Walker and others, in the lobby of the 
hotel. I remarked, “Well, boys, where is Jim?” and 
they told me he was in the county jail. My in¬ 
vestigation was completed and we all returned from 
Roanoke to Charleston on the Virginian train. Sev¬ 
eral people from Princeton and other places on the 
Virginian Railway identified Richards as the man 
who had been riding the Virginian train between 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 153 

Deepwater and Roanoke and told us they believed 
lie was crazy, as he had made several proposals of 
marriage to young girls, telling them that he had a 
tine farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia 
and that he was a single man at present and wanted 
a,wife. He would carry with him on these trips a 
small Bible and quote scripture. 

Richards made a complete confession coming from 
Roanoke to Charleston as to the arrangements made 
for getting the bones and burning his own resi¬ 
dence, and offered as an excuse that a Voodoo Man 
from Virginia had worked some kind of a hoodoo on 
him until he did not have his own mind; that this 
man had sent word to him by a detective from Vir¬ 
ginia telling him that if he burned his house and 
put the bones in the ashes that everything would be 
alright. He still denied any connection with the 
murder of Martin. 

Thinking that our strongest case was against 
Richards we proceeded to try him at the next term 
of court on a charge of murder. He was tried and 
the jury, after a short deliberation, returned into 
court with a verdict of “Not Guilty”. The jury in 
rendering this verdict based their actions on the fact 
that the only eye wtiness who identified Richards as 
one of the men who did the shooting was himself 
shot in the eye, Pete Tyler, together with the fact 
that it was in the night time and the men were 
some forty feet away from Martin at the time of the 
shooting. 

Gilbert Hall was next tried and acquitted and the 
cases against the others are still pending. 

An odd incident occurred in connection with this 


154 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


case. During our search of the ruins and the dis¬ 
covery of the bones, a resident of that section of the 
district remarked: “Jim Richards is now in the 
Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia souring his 
mash. ’ ’ 











An Investigation I Feared. 

In the spring of 1921 I received a telegram from 
a friend of mine in Carter County, Kentucky, ask¬ 
ing me to report at Soldier, Kentucky, which is on 
the Lexington Division of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Railroad out from Ashland, Kentucky. I com¬ 
municated with my friend by letter and ascertained 
that there had been a murder committed near Soldier, 
Kentucky. After arranging a contract which was 
satisfactory I took a young lady operative and we 
together went to Soldier, Kentucky. We were met 
at the station by Albert Bailey and taken to the 
farm of I. N. Edens. After arriving there, Mr. 
Edens and his wife told us the following story: 

“We only had two sons and both of them 
went to war. My youngest son was shell¬ 
shocked and lived but a short time after his re¬ 
turn home. Our other boy lived on a nearby 
farm, a faithful and true son to his parents and 
was loved by all who knew him. It was cus¬ 
tomary for him about two evenings each week 
when the weather was favorable to take a hunt¬ 
ing trip by himself at night, carrying with him 
a sixteen gauge shot gun, a carbide light and 
his faithful hunting dog, Ned. One beautiful 
moonlight night he left his home and went in the 
direction of the farm of Kate Tolliver. On this 
farm is a large still house containing a large 
copper still. This still had been running for 
a number of years in Rowan County, Kentucky. 
Our boy failed to return from his hunting trip 


156 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


at his usual time and about ten o’clock the fol¬ 
lowing day we started a search for him. 

‘'Kate Tolliver had posted a sign on his land 
stating that no one was allowed to hunt upon 
the premises. About 11:30 A. M. the following 
day we found our boy in a dying condition near 
a little mud hole about two hundreds yards from 
the still house on Kate Tolliver’s farm. He 
only lived about twenty minutes after we 
reached him. He told us that he was coming 
from the top of the mountain towards the still 
house when a man, unknown to him, sprang out 
in front of him and fired two shots from a high 
powered rifle, both shots taking effect. He told 
us that after being shot he had made it to this 
mud hole for a drink of water, a distance of 
two hundred yards. The parties with me when 
I found our boy had several different kinds of 
horns and shot guns, and when we were near 
the scene one of the men would blow into the 
barrel of a sixteen gauge shot gun and we 
could hear the whines and bark of our boy’s 
dog. We discovered that the only sound he 
would answer was that which came from a six¬ 
teen gauge shot gun. By this means we located 
him.” 

During my investigation in Rowan, Lewis and 
Carter Counties, a number of men approached me 
on horse back and asked permission to form a mob 
to go to the farm of Kate Tolliver and hang both 
him and Buck McKenzie. Generally speaking the 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 157 


public believed that young Edens was killed by Buck 
McKenzie at the instance of Kate Tolliver. 

During my investigation I examined the thirty 
acre laurel patch in Carter County which was at one 
time a noted moonshine den. A notice was made 
on a small board with the following inscription: 
‘‘This is as far as any officer is allowed to come.” 
My understanding is that none would venture be¬ 
yond that sign. 

The next day after the murder of young Edens, 
the prosecuting attorney, sheriff and other officers 
came from the county seat to the farm of Tolliver 
and burned his still house, but the night before Kate 
Tolliver, with a gray team of horses and a sled, had 
hauled the still away into Lewis County where it 
had been destroyed by the roadside. The posse 
tried several times to catch Tolliver at home, but 
when he would see them coming he would pro¬ 
ceed to the hills and would not be seen again for 
several days. We never located McKenzie. 

Kate Tolliver was a member of a noted family of 
criminals living in Rowan and Carter Counties, 
Kentucky, he having served a number of sentences 
for murder in the Kentucky state prison and at this 
time was on parole from a life sentence for murder. 
He was a member of the same family of which four 
were murdered by Logan and a number of other citi¬ 
zens about thirty years ago in Moorehead, Ken¬ 
tucky. 

While completing my evidence ready for an in¬ 
dictment at Moorehead Kate Tolliver rode into the 
county seat of Rowan county in a drunken and dis¬ 
orderly manner. He was stopped by the Marshal 


158 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


and a pistol duel ensued in which Tolliver was shot 
to death by the Marshal. This finished my investi¬ 
gation, one that I feared more than any other I 
ever made in a criminal case. 










DAN CUNNINGHAM 

AND SOME STORIES FROM HIS SCRAP¬ 
BOOK 


Dan Cunningham and His Slow Vengeance. 

“Dan Cunningham, Huntsman of the Law,” 
was the title of a very interesting article in a cur¬ 
rent number of McClure’s Magazine which attracted 
considerable attention in this state about the year 
1900. The author, Samuel Hopkins Adams, author 
also of the pamphlet putting forth a strong defense 
for Caleb Powers, goes on to show that a mission 
of revenge through the instrumentality of the law 
dominates the life of Cunningham. 

While Cunningham was teaching school in Jack- 
son County, West Virginia, in 1877, his brother, 
Nathan Cunningham, was waylaid and murdered by 
what the author called a “consolidated hand”, a 
great secret organization engaged in murder and 
moonshining. After endeavoring to secure the con¬ 
viction of Wade Counts, Joe Kiser and others of 
the band and failing on account of the fear of the 
officials to molest the band, Cunningham left Jack- 
son County. 

For ten years he taught school in Roane County, 
Putnam and Kanawha Counties. School teaching 
was all he knew and he had to make a living while 
learning certain things the normal school does not 
teach—such as rifle and revolver shooting, wood¬ 
craft, mountain training and tricks of the moon¬ 
shiner. For Dan Cunningham was seeking a job 



160 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


under the United States Government as a local reve¬ 
nue officer. The law that this breed had establish 
and defended at the risk of their lives had failed 
him. He would try Uncle Sam’s Law. He shrewd¬ 
ly suspected that the band would be moonshining. 
The band, gaining prestige from the successful mur¬ 
der of Nathan Cunningham, had by terrorizing and 
political weight, strengthened their hold on the 
county until in 1887, they dominated it completely. 
They were thoroughly organized on a clan princi¬ 
ple with a “legal adviser” and a “spiritual ad¬ 
viser”. Murders of the most brutal kind were laid 
to the band’s account. Robbery, arson and other 
crimes were credited to its various members. No¬ 
body dared to testify against them; the death rate 
among their enemies was too high. Their distilling 
industries and their land grabbing were making 
them prosperous; it was fair weather for the clan. 

Being successful in procuring an appointment as 
Deputy United States Marshal for the southern Dis¬ 
trict of West Virginia, Cunningham returned to 
Jackson County, raided several stills, secured the 
conviction of two of the Kiser family and one 
Counts and broke up the band, which emigrated to 
Roane County. Cunningham followed them up and 
here comes in the incident as related by Mr. Adams 
which will arouse some discussion upon the part of 
those familiar with the subject—the murder of 
Reverend T. P. Ryan, the father of J. L. and M. W. 
Ryan and T. P. Ryan, well known attorneys of 
Fayette County. The affair is related as follows by 
Mr. Adams: 

“In the District of Harper in Roane County, West 










► 







•V- ,\V 


gffiWtjss 


Dan W. Cunningham 


















































HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 163 


Virginia, lived the Reverend T. P. Ryan, generally 
known as Father Ryan. He was a man of clean 
and up-right life, a hater of crime and disorder and 
a fearless preacher, therefore, the unerring instinct 
of the clan saw an enemy. He was shot to death 
through the window of his own house and before 
the murder was committed the Skeens and Counts 
settlements, twelve miles distant, knew all about it. 
Long before the news could have reached their set¬ 
tlement, the gang were armed and enroute to the 
spot, to accuse and arrest the Duff boys and a man 
by the name of Coon, all of whom had been associ¬ 
ated with Cunningham in raiding the Jackson County 
illicit stills. After a mock trial, in secret session, 
they shot George Duff to death, hanged Coon, and 
cut Robert Duff’s throat in the presence of his 
wife. As soon as he learned of this Cunningham 
started for Roane County. Here was his chance to 
secure a conviction for murder against the slayers of 
his brother. He collected the evidence, even to the 
proceedings and the pass word at the meeting which 
sentenced the victims, and was about to present them 
when to his amazement he learned that a warrant had 
been sworn out charging him with the murder of 
Father Ryan. To be taken then meant the same 
death that had been meted out to his friends. For 
the first and only time in his life, Dan Cunningham 
evaded the law. He made good his escape while the 
clan was gathering. The prosecuting attorney, who 
had married the niece of the consolidated gang, sent 
word that if the United States Marshal would agree 
to keep away from Roane County the case would be 
nollied. The answer was prompt, Cunningham would 


164 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


be there when the case came up for trial and he 
would bring protection against lynching, but not 
against any due process of law. The case was called. 
Witnesses had been subpoenaed to swear that they 
saw Cunningham fire the shot. Some fled, some were 
silent ; no one testified, the jury returned a verdict 
of acquittal without leaving their seats. Now came 
Cunningham’s inning. With his evidence of the 
murder of Duff and Coon, he went to the prosecut¬ 
ing attorney. That official refused to proceed against 
the murderers. The inquest, he said, had decided 
that the victims came to their death at the hands of 
parties unknown. “Very well,” said Cunningham, 
“this is another Jackson County. I will await for 
them to commit a Federal crime.” The Federal 
crimes were committed—post office robberies, moon- 
shining and counterfeiting. One by one Cunning¬ 
ham got his men. Once he met on a lonely roadway 
one of the elder Kisers who had borne a part in the 
slaying of Nathan, his brother. By way of pre¬ 
caution Cunningham covered him with his revolver. 
Kiser fell to his knees and began to pray. ‘ ‘ Get up, ’ ’ 
said the Marshal, “if I wanted to kill you and your 
like, couldn’t I have done it a hundred times? 
Go on and do not turn around.” Gossip was then 
circulated about the countryside that Dan Cunning¬ 
ham was witched against bullets and poison. Both 
had been tried by the band and both had failed. 
The bullet fired, fired with a close and steady aim 
from ambush by the crack shot of the clan which 
sleeps with its rifle, cut through the breast of his 
coat, barely burning the skin; the arsonic skillfully 
prepared in an apple by the “yarb witch” of the 



Pine-Beech Hill—Home of Dan W. Cunningham. 



















































- . • 




- ' 


•• 






* •. 

.• - • ' 












































HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 167 


band he tried on a hen and watched the hen die, and 
he went out and arrested two young hopefuls of the" 
Skean family for petit larceny. 

By repeated arrests and minor convictions he 
broke up the consolidated band in Roane County as 
he had in Jackson County. They split, a few re¬ 
maining in their dens, but too weakened and cowed 
to be any longer a menace to their district. One 
faction went down into Tennessee and effected a lo¬ 
cation there. Several times he went to the county 
seat of Roane County to present his evidence against 
the murderers of the Duff boys. Always with the 
same negative result. The entry in his diary of one 
of these failures is followed by this note: 

“Some day there will be another prosecuting 
attorney in Roane County and I will apprehend 
and bring to justice my brother’s murderers.” 

There came a time when the event lay in Cun¬ 
ningham’s hand in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He 
found lying senseless on the railroad track the of¬ 
ficial who stood between him and his twenty year 
deferred vengeance. There was a train in hearing, 
he had only to walk away. He had, twenty years be¬ 
fore, held his hand from the vengeance of murder, so 
now he forewent his reckoning rather than have a 
life on his conscience. He dragged the stupefied man 
from the track and left him lying. If the official 
reads this, it will be his first knowledge of who 
saved his life. 


Another Case from Cunningham’s Scrap- 
Book. 


“In the year of 1904, a most horrible and cruel 
murder was committed in Putnam County, West 
Virginia. Never in the history of this county did a 
crime so incense the residents of this section as did 
the foul assassination of Thomas N. Starks, on the 
night of February 15, 1904. At the time the Charles¬ 
ton Daily Mail reported in full all the horrible de¬ 
tails and from time to time recorded the progress 
of the officers who were investigating the case. 

Thomas N. Starks, one of the most respected citi¬ 
zens of the county, was discovered by his daughter, 
Miss Minerva Starks, who had returned from a visit 
to neighbors, lying on the floor of his room in his 
home, bathed in blood from a wound in his temple 
that had been done by a charge from a shot gun en¬ 
tering his brain. Friends were summoned and medi¬ 
cal attention was rendered the wounded man, but 
with no avail. 

The shooting must have occurred about ten-thirty. 
Thomas Starks, who for eighty-three years had lived 
without strife and turmoil, died of the assassin’s 
wounds. 

The defense was represented by Attorney Stevens, 
of Winfield, West Virginia, and E. L. Stone, of 
Jackson County. 

Adam B. Littlepage, of Charleston, West Virginia, 
opened the case in a statement of the theory of the 
prosecution. He detailed the surroundings of the 
murder, and finally announced that the state was in 
possession of evidence such as he did not doubt 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 169 


would convict the prisoner, Charles Hawkins, of the 
fearful crime. 

E. L. Stone responded for the defense and stated 
that the defense would prove their client not guilty 
to the satisfaction of the court and jury. J. L. 
Stevens made an additional statement for the defense, 
to which Mr. Littlepage responded briefly. 

The hearing of the evidence commenced in the af¬ 
ternoon. Miss Minerva Starks, the daughter of the 
murdered man, herself a white-haired old lady, was 
the first witness called by the state. She stated that 
on the night of February 15th, she left her father’s 
house just before dark and went about a quarter of 
a mile to the house of a neighbor named Schultz. 
Here she remained about three quarters of an hour. 
When she returned home she saw her father lying 
on his side in the room usually occupied by him 
and his face covered with blood. She picked him up 
and dragged him in the room and then ran for 
help. She stated that her father frequently kept 
money at home, sometimes in large sums. He had a 
boot jack with a hidden receptacle under it where 
he frequently hid money. The boot jack was ex¬ 
hibited by the state. The cross examination brought 
out very little except that Mat Bright had been in 
her father’s employ some months prior to his death 
and that they had had some little differences, the old 
man having accused Bright of stealing some po¬ 
tatoes from his potato hole. Bright’s innocence was 
afterwards proven and her father had apologized to 
Bright. Bright was somewhat familiar with the ar¬ 
rangement of the house and the habits of her fa¬ 
ther. The next witness called was Doctor A. Y. 


170 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Martin, who gave a professional opinion regarding 
the wound, its location and th.e angle at which the 
charge was fired. Doctor Meyer, the other physician 
who attended the murdered man, testified to practi¬ 
cally the same thing. C. L. Bowyer testified the 
condition under which he found Starks when he got 
there just before the arrival of the Doctor. C. A. 
Howell, the jailer of the county and a deputy 
sheriff, one of the first to reach the spot from Win¬ 
field on the night of the murder, testified regarding 
the location of furniture in the room when he ar¬ 
rived. He also told of the range of the charge from 
the shot gun and stated that the chimney of the 
lamp on the table beside Mr. Starks was also shat¬ 
tered by the charge. J. P. Smith and his wife were 
both placed on the stand and stated that about nine 
o’clock on the night of the murder, they heard two 
men run by their house, which is near the bridge 
over Big Hurricane. J. Francis, who resides near 
the same bridge, corroborated their statements. 

Marion Adkins and Raymond Adkins, both of 
whom were at this time in the Kanawha County jail 
on a charge of stealing a cow on Cabin Creek sev¬ 
eral weeks before, were brought to Winfield to tes¬ 
tify in the trial. 

These men on the night of the 15th of February 
were on their way to Parkersburg, making across 
Putnam County on foot from the C. & 0. to the 
K. & M., and saw Hawkins and Bright within a mile 
of the Starks home. 

This is considered a very important link in the 
chain of circumstances against these men. 

The most important witness in the case on trial is 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 171 


none other than Mat Bright, who is under indict¬ 
ment for the same crime. 

A month or two ago, his confession in the Kana- 
who County jail led to the arrest of Charles Haw¬ 
kins. It was Bright’s evidence before the grand 
jury at a special term, called for the purpose of in¬ 
vestigating this murder, that indicted both Hawkins 
and himself. 

The testimony of Bright, who will go on the stand 
Wednesday, will be one of the most sensational ever 
heard. 

His statements to the officers have been borne out 
by the other facts secured, and when he faces the 
jury Wednesday and details to them how Hawkins 
and he planned the entire crime, and how it was 
executed, and the disposal of the pitiful returns that 
resulted from the crime, the effect will be little less 
than terrible. 

Early Tuesday morning, a party consisting of 
Bright, one of the Adkins, Detective H. C. Smith, 
T. G. Cochran and Dan W. Cunningham and sev¬ 
eral newspaper representatives visited the scene of 
the murder. The Starks farm is a small one lo¬ 
cated about one and a half miles below Winfield, 
on the Kanawha River Turnpike. 

The house is a comfortable two-story dwelling with 
a one-story extension in the rear. It was in the 
room in the extension that the aged farmer was 
murdered. 

Bright explained in detail how, on the night of 
February 14th, Hawkins made one of his numerous 
visits to Bright’s home, and that there they planned 


172 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


to kill and rob Thomas N. Starks on the following 
night. 

It was agreed to meet at Hickory Post Office dur¬ 
ing the following day. Bright was seen on the road 
with something done up in a paper flour sack which 
was at the time supposed to have been a banjo, but 
was in reality the shotgun taken apart with which on 
that night Hawkins did the killing. 

According to the statement of Bright the pair of 
plotters met at the appointed place and proceeded 
across the hill to the Starks farm. Bright waited 
up in a small hollow while Hawkins took the gun 
and proceeded up the small knoll to the house. 
Bright heard the report of the gun and the hurried 
footsteps of the murderer. Hawkins and Bright 
proceeded down the road and across the bridge of 
Big Hurricane. 

Finally Hawkins divided the spoils, giving Bright 
a revolver and overcoat and $2.50 in money, claim¬ 
ing he only secured $5.00. The County jail here, 
an antiquated and rather vulnerable looking build¬ 
ing, is now occupied by Charles Hawkins and Mat 
Bright, who are under indictment for murder, and 
by the two Adkins boys, who are here as witnesses. 
The Sheriff has the place heavily guarded at all 
times and especially so after midnight. Last even¬ 
ing there was considerable gossip that a mob was or¬ 
ganizing and the jail would be broken into and the 
prisoners hanged; however, this did not materialize, 
though a rather ugly looking crowd had assembled 
near the scene of the murder. On Tuesday after¬ 
noon there was still some talk of lynching the men 
and a proposition was discussed of slipping the two 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 173 


men under indictment out of tOAvn and taking them 
to Charleston for the night. 

The sheriff considered this inadvisable and the 
project was abandoned. 

One of the prettiest places in the Kanawha Valley 
marks the home of Thomas N. Starks. Just back of 
his house a beautiful green knoll stands out from 
the surrounding slopes; here, amid the waving grass 
and under shady trees, is the grave of the mur¬ 
dered man. 











A Typical West Virginia Mountain Abode. 

The picture opposite is the first house of what is 
now, and was then Maben, West Virginia. Maben 
now is a flourishing little town on the Virginian 
Railway and the center of a large lumber industry— 
the Ritter Lumber Company. 

In the picture may be seen a pioneer of West Vir¬ 
ginia and his wife, who were postmaster and post¬ 
mistress, respectively, for the town of Maben. The 
next in the picture is that of myself, D. W. Cun¬ 
ningham. To the right of me is Charles E. Wright, 
former Special Agent of the Department of Justice, 
Washington, D. C. To the extreme right is a man 
under arrest for counterfeiting, who was appre¬ 
hended by myself and Mr. Wright. 

For many years this place was a resting place for 
officers of the law, as in those days the only mode of 
transportation was by wagon and foot along narrow 
trails. The old folks shown would prepare meals 
for the hungry that passed along the trail. 

From a close observation you can see that the 
man on the extreme right is concealing his hands in 
his lap, not wanting to disclose the fact that his 
hands are securely fastened together by handcuffs. 







Log Cabin—The Pioneer Home of Maben, W. Va 


































A Horrible Crime. 


About fifteen years ago, in the peaceful, quiet lit¬ 
tle town of Barboursville, in Cabell County, West 
Virginia, nine miles south of the City of Hunting- 
ton, lived a man by the name of Baker, eighty-four 
years of age, who ran a small confectionery store, 
in the rear of which was his living quarters. 

One summer evening, while the old gentleman was 
asleep on his cot, some unknown person entered his 
little store and home and using the pick showui in 
the picture herewith, killed him in the most brutal 
manner, robbery being the motive. 

The assassin used the pick with such force that he 
drove it clear through the head several times. 

I accompanied the prosecuting attorney of Cabell 
County to the awful scene, and we found Mr. Baker 
as shown in the photograph, and after an investi¬ 
gation located the pick. This pick was taken from 
the tool house of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad 
Company about one-half mile south of Barboursville, 
but we failed to apprehend the man that committed 
this terrible crime. Several suspects were arrested 
only to be released from custody after a severe ex¬ 
amination. The best clue ever obtained was to the 
effect that a colored man from some point in Ken¬ 
tucky had been absent from the construction camp 
a short distance away on the Sunday night of the 
crime and that he did not show up until the next 
evening. We tried in every way to locate this man 
in the State of Kentucky and elsewhere but failed, 
and to this date the assassin is still at large. 















































Confessions of An Amateur Yegg*. 

During the early teens the counties of Lincoln, 
Raleigh, Boone, Kanawha, Nicholas, Clay, Pocahontas 
and Webster were terrorized by a series of store and 
postoffice robberies and safe blowing. Lincoln county 
alone had in the neighborhood of forty robberies 
within two weeks. 

The writer was employed by the different mer¬ 
chants in the localities where the robberies occurred 
to make an investigation. I went from Charleston 
to Racine, in Boone county, where the general store 
had been robbed. From this store I was able to ob¬ 
tain some soap with finger prints on it which I kept 
and followed up this point. The postoffice and gen¬ 
eral store at Enon, in Nicholas county, was robbed 
and the iron safe, which was a four way combina¬ 
tion affair, was hauled about three hundred yards 
from the store building and residence of the post¬ 
master by his own sled and horse and blown open 
with nitroglycerin. The charge was too heavy and 
blew papers and other documents in the safe several 
hundred feet away. The robbers obtained nothing 
but a small amount of money and one ring which 
had been sent by registered mail to a party at Enon. 

While at Racine on my third trip, I accidentally 
came across some information in a little store by 
over-hearing a conversation about a young man, 
whose name I do not care to mention, who had been 
ordering shoes from Sears, Roebuck & Company and 
sending them stamps of large denominations to pay 
for same. 

For months I went from county to county secur- 


180 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


ing information on this gang of thieves. The young 
man from Racine had been sent to the State Hos¬ 
pital at Huntington, West Virginia, to be given 
treatment for the drug habit. I watched faithfully 
for his recovery and notified the physician in 
charge that when he was able I wanted to be wired 
and would come to Huntington to interview him. 
The wire came and I went to Huntington. After 
questioning him, he confessed as follows: 

‘ ‘ About one year ago I became acquainted 
with three men by the names of Calvin Doe, 
Milton Doe and C. & 0. Red, who was a pro¬ 
fessional yeggman. We traveled from' county 
to county robbing small stores and postoffices, 
sleeping at night in barns and in the woods. 
We would go into the woods and when out of 
nitroglycerin, would make our 'soup’ by boiling 
down dynamite. We also carried a small 
quantity of peroxide to color our hair. One 
morning while under the influence of drugs, 
tired and worn out, in the mountains of Poca¬ 
hontas county, the three above mentioned by 
me prepared breakfast and they handed me 
a mirror and told me to take a peep at myself. 
I did so and discovered that my head of black 
hair had been dyed a light red color. This pro¬ 
cess was used while I was sleeping. We all used 
the hypodermic needle containing morphine 
when we could not get liquor. I would make 
an estimate of one hundred or more stores that 
we robbed. We at one time made a trip from 
Lincoln to Pocahontas county and then to Web- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 181 


ster Springs, robbing several places as we went. 
While going through to Webster county we 
stopped to rob a little country store in Flat- 
woods in Braxton county. The little one room 
building had shutters and iron bars. At this 
time we were carrying about one hundred pounds 
of seng, which we had stolen. After we released 
the bars and shutters and started to enter the 
room someone from the inside fired a heavy 
shot through the window and we escaped, leav¬ 
ing the seng on the porch of the little store. 
Before meeting these men I never used drugs 
in any form and from my association with them 
I became addicted to the same.” 

The writer, after obtaining this information, se¬ 
cured warrants and for several weeks was on the 
trail of the two men, who at this time were living 
near the line between Clay and Nicholas counties. 
These men were from good families. After several 
failures to capture them, we learned they were in a 
lumber camp in Pocahontas county, selling moon¬ 
shine liquor. They were apprehended by the sheriff 
and others while eating dinner. On being searched 
each one had a pair of revolvers of a large caliber 
and plenty of ammunition, together with four gal¬ 
lons of liquor. They were taken to the Pocahontas 
County jail, charged with moonshining and carrying 
concealed weapons. I had very little trouble in con¬ 
vincing the sheriff and prosecuting attorney of Poca¬ 
hontas county that I had these men indicted for 
serious crimes and would be able to convict them 
for felonies in the United States Court. Before I 


182 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


brought them from Pocahontas to Charleston, Calvin, 
who had a wife in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, wrote a 
letter and asked her to send him a paste board book 
and conceal two Black Diamond saws between the 
boards so that he could saw his way to liberty. This 
letter was given to a trusty to mail, Calvin giving 
him $5.00 for the favor. The trusty turned the 
letter over to the sheriff and in a few days the book 
came through the mail. Sheriff Cochran received it 
and took from the paste board back the two saws 
which Calvin had sent for. He placed them in a 
solution of acid which took the temper out of them 
and then replaced them in the book. The book was 
delivered to Calvin. During the night a watch was 
kept upon the prisoners and they labored for hours 
to saw the bars in two, but the saws would only bend 
and it was of no avail. The next day Calvin figured 
out the joke and only laughed at what had been done 
to him. Milton, his brother, had not spoken in the 
presence of any stranger for weeks, Calvin claiming 
that he was insane. 

I brought both of them from Pocahontas to the 
Kanawha County jail. While confined here the Post 
Office Inspector and myself visited the county jail 
and the Inspector asked Calvin where he purchased 
the signet ring he was wearing. Calvin immediate¬ 
ly left us, walking to the lavatory where he threw 
it down the commode, flushing it down. This was 
the same ring which was taken after blowing the 
safe at Enon in Nicholas county. 

They were both tried in the Federal Court for the 
Southern District of West Virginia, which convened 
at Webster Springs in September. They were in- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 185 

dieted in several cases and given a term of four and 
one-half years in the Moundsville Penitentiary. Mil- 
ton had already served at least three sentences in 
different prisons for robbery. Calvin had served two 
terms, this making his third conviction and Milton’s, 
fourth. 

Calvin, at one time, while serving a sentence in 
the Moundsville prison, scaled the wall by tying to¬ 
gether some bed clothing and throwing a hook or 
loop over the wall, by this means making his es¬ 
cape. He was afterwards captured and returned to 
the institution. He is now confined in the Federal 
Prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Milton, 
his brother, is a fugitive from justice, having been 
indicted in the Intermediate Court of Kanawha 
county for an automobile theft. It is my under¬ 
standing that in case Milton is captured he will be 
tried under the habitual criminal statute and if con¬ 
victed will receive a life sentence. 

My reason for withholding the right names of these 
men is on account of their parents, who are re¬ 
spected, law-abiding citizens. The young man who 
made the confession is now married and no longer 
addicted to the use of drugs, living a clean life. 




Soldiers Turn Bandits. 


(The following story and data is printed through the 
courtesy of Rome Mitchell, who is in the opinion of the 
writer, the best and most efficient Special Agent ever em¬ 
ployed by the Huntington Division of the Chesapeake & 
Ohio Railway. His activities brought to justice these 
murderers.) 

In the summer of 1919, an interurban street car 
running between Saint Albans and Charleston was 
boarded at Stop 19, a short distance above Saint Al¬ 
bans, by three suspicious looking men wearing over¬ 
alls. People in the car afterwards stated that they 
felt that something was wrong by the actions of the 
men, they appeared to be in such a nervous con¬ 
dition. Two of the men went to the front of the 
ear and one remained at the rear. At an agreed 
signal from one of the men in the front of the car, 
who fired his pistol, the other two got up and com¬ 
manded the passengers to put up their hands. The 
conductor started to run and one of the men fired a 
shot in his direction. During the excitement that 
followed Kemper Ruffner, a Charleston boy, escaped 
through one of the windows of the car with over 
three hundred dollars in his pocket. After search¬ 
ing the passengers the three men got off the car, 
where they found the conductor mortally wounded. 
They searched his clothes and obtained $10.00 in 
money, vanishing into the darkness. 

This hold-up and murder caused considerable feel¬ 
ing in Kanawha and surrounding counties. Officers 
of the law everywhere were on the lookout for the 
culprits. The Police Department at one time during 
the search for the three men arrested three deaf 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 185 

mutes and had them confined in the Kanawha County 
jail for a period of about three weeks, trying to con¬ 
nect them with the crime. 

At this time Special Officer Mitchell started his in¬ 
vestigation of the crime and his first clue led him to 
believe that the three men in custody were not the 
ones wanted, as passengers on the car testified that 
two of the men spoke in giving commands, when only 
one of the trio confined could speak. Following this 
up Mitchell started his investigation at Saint Albans 
and from evidence secured ascertained that two 
rowboats had been stolen on the night of the crime 
from the opposite side of the river from Saint Al¬ 
bans near the Town of Nitro. This gave him the 
idea that persons residing on the Nitro side of the 
river had committed the crime, as tracks leading 
from the scene of the crime down to the river bank 
further bore this theory out. 

Conductor John Dame, who was killed, was struck 
by a 45 caliber automatic bullet, such as is used by 
the United States Government, and from this evi¬ 
dence Mitchell suspected some of the soldiers on 
guard duty at Nitro, the Government Powder City. 
On making inquiries of the officials at Nitro he as¬ 
certained the number of men who were absent from 
camp on this particular night, and after a process of 
elimination the number absent who could not account 
for their whereabouts during their absence was re¬ 
duced to three, namely: Private Doc Maddox, Pri¬ 
vate Ralph E. Farley and Corporal Warnie Ander¬ 
son. These three men were arrested, charged with 
the murder of Dame and brought to Charleston, 
where they were confined in the Kanawha County 


186 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


jail. They were questioned several times while con¬ 
fined but refused to give any information whatever 
regarding the crime, stoutly maintaining their inno¬ 
cence. 

Maddox was brought before the prosecuting attor¬ 
ney and questioned at some length about the case* 
At first he was inclined to tell conflicting stories, 
but after he had been “cornered’’ several times, he 
voluntarily made a complete confession. Before the 
questioning began, Maddox was informed that any¬ 
thing he might say would be used against him in . the 
trial, and that he did not have to answer any of the 
questions put to him if he preferred to keep quiet, 
on the matter. He expressed a willingness to an¬ 
swer all questions. 

Before making his written confession Maddox ex¬ 
pressed the desire to be alone for awhile and it was. 
finally agreed that he could remain in the prosecut¬ 
ing attorney’s office as long as he chose with only 
one officer in the room, who would not talk to him. 

In making a ‘‘clean breast” of the crime Maddox, 
said that he felt guilty and wanted to get the matter 
off his mind and take his punishment along with his. 
two accomplices. His confession is as follows: 

The Confession. 

“Charleston, W. Va., June 16, 1919. 

“I, Private Doc Maddox, Supply Company,, 
United States Infantry, stationed at Nitro, West 
Virginia, do make the following statement of 
my own free will and accord, without hope or 
promise of favor and not under threats of any 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 187 

kind, but realizing the full effect of my con¬ 
fession. 

“I am nineteen years of age. I have been in 
the service two years. On Monday evening, one 
week ago today, Private Ralph E. Farley, Wag¬ 
oner, Supply Company, -th infantry, dis¬ 

cussed with me a proposition to hold up the 
street car running from Saint Albans to Charles¬ 
ton and rob its passengers and conductor. At 
first I refused; later I agreed if we could get 
the third man to help. Farley later told me he 
had talked with Corporal Warnie Anderson, 
Supply Company,_th Infantry, and Ander¬ 

son had agreed to help us. Later, I talked it 
over with Anderson and he agreed. On Tuesday, 
I borrowed Bugler Cooper’s (Company E, 
_th United States Infantry) 45 caliber auto¬ 
matic pistol to take with me. The three of us, 
at Farley’s suggestion, had agreed to go armed 
and wear overalls as a disguise. I borrowed 
overalls. They were khaki colored, buttoning 
clear up to the throat. The others also had 
overalls, one blue and khaki colored also. I 
carried my overalls in a bundle, accompanied by 
Farley and Anderson, on the ferry boat, ‘ ‘ Sandy 
Valley”, about seven p. m. of Tuesday, June 
10th. At Saint Albans, I took my overalls to 
the bushes on the river bank and put them with 
Anderson’s and Farley’s. Later, I went there, 
got all of them, and went up the river bank, 
met them and we all put the overalls on in the 
bushes. Just before that I saw some woman and 
children and a man in swimming. I did not see 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


them again. After putting on the overalls, we 
three crossed the field to the railroad pumping 
station. We asked a man in charge there for 
water and he gave it to us. 

“We went from there to Stop 19 on the car 
line. We boarded it. Anderson and I went to 
the front and Farley remained at the rear. At 
an agreed signal from Farley, who was to shoot, 
Anderson and I got up and I shot through the 
top of the car, calling on passengers to put up 
their hands. The conductor, whom I knew slight¬ 
ly, tried to run and I saw Farley shoot in his 
direction as he ran. I saw Anderson at the 
front of the car after the motorman. I think he 
struck the motorman with his gun. One pas¬ 
senger jumped through the window and my 
gun jammed so that I could not fire it. 

“We went through the passengers and then 
got off. We started down the track and came 
upon the motorman and conductor. Farley 
shot into the ground near the motorman and 
told them to put up their hands. I searched the 
conductor and got $10.00. He said he was shot 
in the side. We then went down the river bank, 
took a boat, crossed to Sattes side of the river 
and walked to Nitro. We hid our guns on the 
way into Nitro. Later I got mine and re¬ 
turned it to Cooper. We threw our overalls 
into the river as we crossed it. We wore our 
uniforms into camp. 

“I have not talked to witnesses of the car 
robbery, but I told-after the rob¬ 

bery all about our intentions and what we had 



HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 189 

done. Later I learned of an attempt to identify 
us at Nitro and I left. At Lock Seven I saw 
the man who had jumped through the window 
and turned away so he could not see me. I 
think Farley shot the conductor. I shot no one 
and I think Anderson struck the motorman with 
the butt of his revolver. 

“The foregoing is written at my instance in 
the presence of Thomas Cochran and others. 

“It is freely given after a consideration by 
me of it all, being given ample time to think it 
over at my request. 

“(Signed) Doc Maddox. 

“Witness: 

“T. G. Cochran and others. ” 

The above men were brought to trial, Farley and 
Anderson still maintaining their innocence in view of 
the above confession. The trial proceeded and when 
about half completed, they changed their plea of not 
guilty to one of guilty and threw themselves upon 
the mercy of the court. Farley was sentenced to life 
imprisonment, Anderson received fifteen years and 
Maddox fifteen years. 




A Peculiar Murder. 


On the west side of the City of Charleston on the 
hill opposite Crescent Koad, lived a family by the 
name of Jarrett. Jarrett and his wife had sep¬ 
arated and were divorced, Mrs. Jarrett later marry¬ 
ing a man by the name of B. Overstreet. After liv¬ 
ing with Overstreet a short while, Mrs. Jarrett com¬ 
pelled her second husband to return to the home of 
her former husband and live there where she could 
be with her children. 

Domestic troubles frequently occurred in this 
home. Overstreet became ill and could not work, 
Jarrett ordering him to leave the home. Mrs. Over- 
street agreed with her former husband in this re¬ 
spect that Overstreet should leave. Overstreet would 
leave and stay away through the day and return 
home at night, seemingly losing his mind on account 
of his illness. 

One evening about ten o’clock the writer was 
called by the prosecuting attorney to investigate the 
circumstances surrounding what was termed a sui¬ 
cide on the West Side. Being busy with another 
criminal matter I turned the case over to W. M. 
Thomas and C. H. Martin, Constables of Charleston 
District. These men went to the scene of the sup¬ 
posed suicide and found B. Overstreet lying near the 
back porch of the house with the top of his head com¬ 
pletely blown off. The first thing the officers noted 
was the distance the gun was lying from the body 
of Overstreet. They next used their flash light in 
looking under the floor and the gun was lying a dis¬ 
tance of twelve feet from the body, and when the 


THOMAS 


W. M. 

























































' 



















. 















HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 193 


gun was lifted from the ground an exact impression 
of the gun was found in the dust which could not 
have been otherwise unless carefully laid down in 
the dust under the house. This led the officers to 
believe that the supposed suicide was a murder. 
Questioning several people in the neighborhood they 
secured information that showed Overstreet had been 
ordered from the home because he was unable to work 
and pay the expenses of him and his wife, his wife 
refusing to live with him and stay away from her 
children. 

George J. Jarrett was interviewed and he claimed 
that Overstreet had been hunting that evening and 
came in and went to the back porch and had been 
sitting there for a considerable time when they heard 
the gun explode and running from the house to the 
place where Overstreet had been sitting found him 
with his head blown off. The children were all 
trained to tell the same story. Our investigation 
from time to time showed that a wilful murder had 
been committed either by George Jarrett or his son, 
Hamilton Jarrett. 

On Sunday following the murder we issued war¬ 
rants and arrested George Jarrett, the father and 
Hamilton Jarrett, the son, and brought them before 
G. D. Acree, Justice of the Peace, where we ques¬ 
tioned them in reference to the murder. After two 
huors sweating Hamilton Jarrett told the story, as. 
follows: 

“ Father and B. Overstreet have been haviiig 
trouble for weeks, father having ordered him 
away on several occasions. This evening he 
came back, and father asked him if he was not 


194 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


going to leave. Father had taken a shot gun 
from the rack and going out the back way 
walked to where Overstreet was and said: ‘B, 
are you going to leave here as I told you? If 
you do not go I am going to shoot you.’ Over- 
street replied: ‘Shoot, damn you,’ and the 
shot was fired and when I went out B. Over- 
street had his head blown off by the gun father 
had taken from the rack. Father told us what 
story to tell and we all stuck to it. I had 
nothing to do with the murder and father did 
it all.” 

This same statement was also corroborated by Jar- 
rett’s former wife and daughter, Jarrett claiming 
that they had been scared into telling falsehoods on 
Mm and denying that he was guilty of the mur¬ 
der. George Jarrett and Hamilton were confined in 
the county jail for some time, after which they 
gave bond. George Jarrett was later indicted for 
the murder of Overstreet by a Kanawha County 
-Grand Jury. The evidence was insufficient to con¬ 
vict on the ground that the evidence was not volun¬ 
tary and that the family would change their state¬ 
ments, saying that they were scared into telling this 
istory by threats of being punished themselves for 
the murder. This, however, was not true as to 
threats. In making the investigation the only evi¬ 
dence obtainable was that of the Jarrett family and 
under these circumstances the prosecution was 
blocked. 

This case is cited to show suicide is some times 
murder. Make an investigation in all cases of this 
nature. 


Mat Jarrell—Holly Griffith No. 2. 

In the fall of 1915, Kanawha and Kaleigh coun¬ 
ties, West Virginia, were terrorized by a young out¬ 
law named Mat Jarrell, who was a coal miner by 
occupation, and while working in the mines a slate 
fall crippled him so severely that it was necessary 
to amputate one of his legs. 

For years he wore a peg leg and later on a cork 
leg. After this accident he would do outside work 
in the coal fields, such as hostler and other light 
work. Jarrell had been reared by poor parents and 
had learned from childhood to use mountain dew, 
commonly called moonshine. While under the in¬ 
fluence of liquor, Jarrell had committed a number of 
assaults and other depredations, being feared by 
most everyone in the community. 

Jarrell, during one of his drunken sprees, killed 
one of his fellowmen on Cabin Creek and was given 
a long sentence in the penitentiary. After serving a 
short term he was paroled and on the day he left 
prison, he made the following remark to the War¬ 
den: “Prepare the death cell for me for I am com¬ 
ing back.” After enjoying a few months of free¬ 
dom on parole, Jarrell violated the conditions under 
which he was released and re-committment papers 
were issued by the Governor and placed in the hands 
of the Sheriff of Kanawha County for execution. 
Before the sheriff could apprehend Jarrell and place 
him under arrest, a man by the name of Albert 
Webb, who had served terms in the penitentiary for 
both murder and counterfeiting, engaged in a free- 
for-all fight with Jarrell and during the fray, shot 


196 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Jarrell five times, but not before Jarrell had slashed 
Webb and his brother severely with a knife. Jarrell 
was taken to the Sheltering Arms Hospital at Hans¬ 
ford where five weeks later he recovered. 

After leaving the hospital and on his way to see 
his aged mother, Jarrell again became intoxicated 
in a little town called Oakley on Cabin Creek, where 
he engaged in a discussion with Henry Ratliff and 
threatened to do Ratliff bodily harm, displaying two 
large revolvers. Ratliff seized a shot gun and Jar¬ 
rell killed him instantly before he had an opportun¬ 
ity to use the weapon. During this shooting scrape 
Jarrell shot a young lady by the name of Belle 
Adams, who recovered. 

After this occurrence Jarrell brandished his two 
guns in true western style and swung to the pilot 
of a locomotive and made his escape, getting off 
at Cane Fork on Cabin Creek, where he was joined 
by his brother and another confederate, who at this 
time had secured arms and ammunition. 

Before they left Cane Fork, Jarrell was ap¬ 
proached by Frank Nantz, a special officer, who had 
learned of Jarrell’s escapades. The meeting took 
place in Risk’s store. The trio opened fire on the 
officer, sending three shots through his body. Nantz 
died in a few hours. 

Rome Mitchell, Constable of Cabin Creek District 
at that time, and E. E. Bragg, a Deputy Sheriff, or¬ 
ganized a posse of ten determined men. Mitchell 
notified Sheriff Bonner Hill at Charleston and he 
later joined the posse. 

After leaving Cane Fork, Jarrell and his pals 
stole a push car and went to the house of Esau Coon, 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 197 

one mile below the mouth of Seng’ Creek on Big 
Coal river. Mitchell and his men tracked Jarrell 
from the mouth of the creek to the house, the tracks 
being very plain on account of the cork leg worn by 
Jarrell. On approaching the house, Mitchell dis¬ 
covered Jarrell at the window and telling his brother 
to stand by the fence and if anything went wrong to 
pulverize the window, proceeded towards the house. 
He was met inside of the fence a short distance from 
the house by a young man coming from the house 
who informed him that he would would be killed if 
he entered the house. Mitchell finally gained admis¬ 
sion to the home and heard Jarrell up stairs. He 
called out to him and asked him to surrender, Jar¬ 
rell answering, saying “Alright, don’t shoot me.” 
Mitchell told him that he would not be shot if he 
surrendered peaceably and Jarrell told him that he 
would surrender to him but no one else. Mitchell 
proceeded up the steps and on reaching the top of 
the stairs threw a rifle on Jarrell. Jarrell grabbed 
a young lady that was in the room with him and 
shoved her in front of him, saying all the time, 
“Rome, don’t shoot me.” Two revolvers, a high 
power rifle and plenty of ammunition was found in 
the room. 

Jarrell was brought to Charleston and confined in 
the Kanawha County jail without bond. He was 
finally tried and sentenced to hang for his crimes. 
While awaiting transportation to the penitentiary his 
gray haired old mother made a brave fight against 
odds to have her son’s life saved, but without suc¬ 
cess, and he paid the supreme penalty for his many 
crimes. Some years later his mother was buried by 


198 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


the side of her “Darling Boy”, the term she used 
in addressing him while he was confined in the 
county jail. 

Jarrell, during his life, was one of the most blood¬ 
thirsty criminals in the annals of the history of 
West Virginia, and on several occasions he would 
draw a pistol from his pocket and compel men, wo¬ 
men and children to kneel in the middle of a coun¬ 
try road and say their prayers, all the while shoot¬ 
ing with his pistol into the ground beside them. 
While awaiting the date of his death in what is 
known as the “death cell” in the penitentiary, he 
weakened, and wrote a letter to Dr. 0. L. Aultz, at 
that time county physician for Kanawha county who 
had attended Jarrell at the jail. In this letter he 
implored the doctor to do everything in his power to 
persuade the Governor to commute his sentence to 
life imprisonment. 








CAPTURE OF WAYNE COUNTY DES¬ 
PERADOES 


Dan Cunningham’s Well Devised Plans Are 
Successful. 

One of the most desperate battles between officers 
of the law and outlaws in the annals of criminal 
strife in the Big Sandy Valley took place shortly 
after daylight in the month of December, 1908, at 
the home of Bill Vinson, about two miles below Webb 
Station in the extreme southern part of Wayne 
county and bordering on the Big Sandy river. As 
a result of the conflict between a posse of fourteen 
men, composed of ten deputy United States mar¬ 
shals from West Virginia, and four deputy sheriffs 
from Lawrence county, Kentucky, and the gang of 
desperadoes that have been terrorizing that section, 
two men were instantly killed. Deputy Sheriff 
Wylie Litteral of Louisa, a member of the posse 
that surrounded the house, was shot down and in¬ 
stantly killed by a bullet from the revolver of 
“Bill” Vinson, the father of Joe Vinson, the head 
of the gang. 


Vinson Shot Down. 

No sooner had Vinson pulled the trigger of his 
pistol that sent the bullet into the body of the offi¬ 
cer than he was made a target for the automatic 
rifles in the hands of the officers and he expiated 
the crime which he had committed an instant before. 
Seeing that it was a fight to the finish the officers 




200 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


rapidly closed in around the house and succeeded in 
arresting Joe Vinson, the head of the gang, the man 
who had been defying arrest for many months, and 
with him Morris Bates and '‘Bill” Vinson, Jr., a 
son of the man who was killed. According to a tele¬ 
gram received from Deputy Marshal Dan Cunning¬ 
ham, the wives of the desperadoes fought like she- 
devils and one of the women put a knife through 
the body of the dead deputy sheriff. This woman, 
who is thought to have been the wife of the Vinson 
who was killed, was also placed under arrest by the 
marshals, and she was brought to Huntington in 
company with the male desperadoes and lodged in 
the Cabell county jail. 

Joe Vinson, the head of the gang, and the one that 
has probably been responsible for the whole trouble, 
is wanted by the United States authorities on several 
charges, having been indicted for the illicit retailing 
of liquor, wanted on a bench warrant from the East¬ 
ern District of Kentucky, and in the proceedings in¬ 
stituted in the Federal Court of the district by his 
creditors to have him thrown into bankruptcy. All 
recent efforts which have been made by the officers 
to land him before the court have utterly failed, as 
in each instance he would make his escape with the 
assistance of the members of the gang that pro¬ 
tected him. Only a few weeks ago, he w r as caught 
on the Kentucky side of the river by a deputy sheriff 
from Louisa, who started with him for the jail, but 
enroute he was overtaken by Vinson’s gang, who 
took their leader from the officer and brought him 
back to his home on the West Virginia side. 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 201 


Plans Well Laid for Arrest. 

United States Marshal Frank Tyree, with the as¬ 
sistance of his efficient assistants, have been laying 
plans for the past several weeks to take Vinson into 
custody and took the matter up with the Department 
of Justice at Washington. He succeeded in secur¬ 
ing commissions for several special United States 
marshals to assist him in the raid upon Vinson’s fort 
near Webb, and at night the posse was formed after 
the extra men had been sworn in by Attorney J. P. 
Douglas of District Attorney Elliott Northcott’s of¬ 
fice. 

Armed with automatic Winchesters, the posse, 
headed by Deputy Marshal Sam Davis of this city, 
and Dan Cunningham, of Charleston, left Hunting- 
ton on the midnight car for Kenova. Other mem¬ 
bers of the posse were Howard C. Smith, of the 
Smith Detective Agency of Charleston; Ward Brum, 
field, who had many exciting experiences in the 
Hart’s Creek feud; S. H. Owens, G. D. Acree. Joseph 
Messenger, C. H. Martin, T. J. Cochran and others. 
Upon their arrival at Kenova they were joined by 
Deputy Sheriff Litteral, of Louisa, and three other 
officers, the posse numbering in all sixteen men. 
They left on the train for Webb and arrived there 
bfeore daylight the next morning. Just as the light 
of a new day was dawning, the posse reached the 
home of Joe Vinson, and surrounded the house. 
Vinson and his gang were not surprised, for they 
had been notified by some one from Louisa of the 
coming of the officers and were in waiting. After 
having surrounded the house, the men called for 



202 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


Joe Vinson to come out, and in an instant a volley 
of shots poured forth from various parts of the 
house. Their answer to the summons was “fight”. 
The officers, who had their guns in readiness, instant¬ 
ly answered the volley, and the battle began. Not 
less than fifty shots were fired. Two of the men 
who were in Vinson’s house, it is believed, made 
their escape while the officers succeeded in arresting 
three of them, Joe Vinson, Morris Bates and “Bill” 
Vinson, Jr. The senior Vinson was killed. Blood¬ 
hounds belonging to Howard Smith of Charleston, 
one of the members of the posse, were placed on the 
trail of the two men that are supposed to have es¬ 
caped from the house, and there will probably be an¬ 
other battle if the dogs succeed in following up the 
trail. The body of Litteral was brought to Fort 
Gay at noon today enroute to Louisa, the home of 
the unfortunate man. Litteral was a young man of 
only twenty-five years and had only recently been 
married. The men who were taken in charge were 
disarmed, shackled, and brought to Huntington in 
custody of the officers. They were placed in the 
county jail for safe keeping. 

The Record of Joe Vinson. 

For the past ten years Joe Vinson had owned and 
operated a general store about two miles below Webb, 
and enjoyed an extensive and profitable trade. His 
bills were always discounted and he was regarded by 
wholesalers as a customer of first rating. A few 
months later he bought a plot of ground in the vil¬ 
lage of Webb, erected a storehouse thereon and had 
no difficulty in filling it with goods. He explained, 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 203 

when purchases were made, that he would he unable 
to pay cash as he had formerly done on account of 
the expense he had been put to in the erection of the 
new store. He had in all about twenty-five hundred 
dollars worth of goods in the new store at Webb, but 
when the bills for the goods fell due, the wholesale 
people were unable to make collection. Finally one 
hardware firm, which had credited Vinson to the ex¬ 
tent of about five hundred dollars, instituted pro¬ 
ceedings in bankruptcy, and a seizure warrant was 
issued, authorizing the creditors to take charge of 
the stock pending the consummation of the bank¬ 
ruptcy proceedings. The papers were placed in the 
hands of deputy United States marshals for service, 
but Vinson would always avoid service by crossing 
the Tug river into Kentucky on the approach of the 
deputies. Joe Vinson had also been indicted in the 
United States court both in Kentucky and West Vir¬ 
ginia for illicit retailing of whiskey. Deputy Sher¬ 
iff Litteral of Kentucky, who was killed, placed Vin¬ 
son under arrest, but Vinson’s father, brothers and 
friends forcibly took him from the custody of the 
officer. A short time later deputy sheriff Litteral, 
accompanied by Roland Sammon, again arrested Vin¬ 
son, and took him to Louisa, where he gave bond for 
his appearance before the United States court. Vin¬ 
son resisted arrest at this time and there were several 
shots exchanged, one man being shot in the shoulder. 

When the proceedings in bankruptcy were insti¬ 
tuted it was discovered that Vinson had placed the 
property, where the second store was located, in his 
wife’s name, and as soon as the trouble arose he sold 
the stock of goods to the Currys, who live within a 


204 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


mile or two of Webb. The Currys are desperate 
characters, and for years had terrorized the part of 
Wayne county in which they lived. These goods 
were in turn sold by the Currys to various families 
in the neighborhood. 

The immediate cause of the battle was the at¬ 
tempted arrest of Joe Vinson by the deputy marshals, 
and a posse of officers, on the charge of violation of 
section 3292 United States Statutes, which covers the 
illicit retailing of liquor. Vinson had sold liquor in 
this way for years, he and his friends being a law 
unto themselves, and officers attempting to serve 
warrants did so at the risk of their lives. Bill Vin¬ 
son, who was killed, is the father of Joe Vinson. All 
the members of the family have been indicted at vari¬ 
ous times on various charges in Kentucky and West 
Virginia, but they had never been brought to justice 







The Capture of Robert Darrow, alias “Big* 
East” 

In the month of July, 1915, Henry Voirs, a Dep¬ 
uty Sheriff of Cabin Creek District, Kanawha Coun¬ 
ty, West Virginia, residing at Ronda on the Cabin 
Creek Division of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, 
was searching freight trains for booze runners, and 
came in contact with a noted colored bootlegger, 
Robert Darrow, alias “Big East”. This colored 
man had a large quantity of liquor on a freight 
train going up Cabin Creek and Voirs was notified of 
this fact and searched the train at Ronda. Voirs 
located Darrow on the top of a car, having his 
liquor concealed on the same train. When Voirs 
sighted Darrow he ordered him to come down from 
the top of the car. Instead of obeying the command 
of the officer, Darrow told him to “come up and get 
me.” Voirs started up the ladder at the side of 
the car and just as he reached the top Darrow shot 
him through the neck just below the chin, killing him 
instantly. 

The next morning C. & 0. Special Officer Rome 
Mitchell and others were on the trail of “Big East” 
and about two o’clock a. m., while searching an 
empty box car train in the Saint Albans yard they 
came upon a car with the door about six inches ajar. 
Mitchell shoved the door back and with a flash light 
in his hand looked into the car. He had no sooner 
done this than a shot rang out, a bullet barely miss¬ 
ing Mitchell’s nose. After several shots were fired, 
Darrow succeeded in making his escape. Darrow 
seemed to have a charmed life, as three of the officers, 


206 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


including Mitchell, fired over fifteen shots at him. 

After this fray with the officers, Darrow was next 
seen near Leon, West Virginia, with a pistol in his 
hand. He was later arrested in Huntington, West 
Virginia, on a charge of carrying concealed weapons. 
On searching Darrow’s belongings at his room, sev¬ 
eral letters were found addressed to him from a wo¬ 
man in Cincinnati, Ohio, living at 404 Johns street. 
Mitchell went to Cincinnati and interviewed this 
woman and found out that she had been a “lover’’ 
of Darrow but that he had “turned her down for 
another woman. ” She said that if she was given 
$50.00 she would locate Darrow for them. Twenty- 
five dollars of this amount was paid to her and she 
was told that as soon as she located Darrow the other 
$25.00 would be paid. About ten days later a letter 
was received from her stating that Darrow was 
working in Erie, Pennsylvania, hustling freight in 
the depot there. Darrow was arrested, tried and 
sentenced to life imprisonment in the West Virginia 
Penitentiary at Moundsville and is now serving that 
sentence. 

Darrow was a giant, being five feet eleven inches 
in height and weighing two hundred and twenty 
pounds. His wrists were so large that a pair of 
Peerless handcuffs cut his rists so severely they had 
to be removed, as they would stop the circulation 
when fastened in the last notch. He was a highly 
educated colored man, having a patent pending in 
Washington, D. C., for the super-heating of locomo¬ 
tives. After his sentence this patent Was turned over 
to his brother. 


Missing* Shoe Heel Convicts Murderer. 

During the fishing season in 1906, there lived at 
Lamont on Cabin Creek a huge colored giant by the 
name of William McCoy. He was a saucy, impudent, 
overbearing negro and tried to be master among his 
race. 

McCoy married a widow, who had a beautiful 
daughter. Soon after the marriage domestic trou¬ 
bles started, as McCoy thought more of the daughter 
than of the wife. In order to avoid trouble and 
publicity the mother gave her daughter’s hand in 
marriage to a young colored man, but after this 
marriage McCoy would insist upon going to call on 
his step-daughter, she refusing to see him. 

McCoy’s heart became full of hatred and jealousy, 
so he planned to get rid of his step son-in-law. He 
arranged a fishing trip going by the way of Orange, 
West Virginia, to Coal river and down into Boone 
county. McCoy invited his step-daughter and his 
step son-in-law, together with his wife and a deacon 
in a church, to accompany him on this trip. 

After they had been in camp for a few days, Mc¬ 
Coy asked the younger man to trade shot gun shells 
with him, giving the boy a shell loaded with No. 8 
bird shot and asking in return for a shell containing 
No. 2 shot usually used in hunting turkeys. The 
trade took place in the presence of the deacon. Af¬ 
ter the trade was consummated, McCoy pulled his 
knife from his pocket and cut a ring around the 
lower edge of the shell just between the powder and 
the shot. The old deacon on - seeing this operation, 
and knowing the ill will which McCoy bore toward 


208 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


the younger man, left the camp and was not lo¬ 
cated for some time afterwards. 

A couple of days after this occurrence, McCoy and 
his step-son-in-law were returning from a fishing trip, 
both carrying their shot guns. Before reaching the 
camp, McCoy deliberately fired the shell loaded with 
the No. 8 into the head of the younger man scatter¬ 
ing his brains in every direction. 

McCoy returned to the camp alone and when 
questioned by his step-daughter as to the where¬ 
abouts of her husband, MeCoy stated that he had left 
and was not coming back and had told him the rea¬ 
son he was going was that he did not ]jke his wife. 
McCoy produced a note from his pocket and handed 
it to the girl, stating that it was a note from her 
husband. 

The young wife worried for days about her hus¬ 
band and finally employed the author to see if he 
could not be found. At this time I was acting in 
the capacity of peace officer in the coal fields along 
Cabin Creek. 

After I started my investigation the circumstances 
were such that I suspected foul play and after I 
had obtained considerable facts in the case, a farmer 
by the name of Black Cooper came in to see me on 
horseback and notified me that he had found the 
body of a colored man on Coal Fork. I then went 
to the home of William McCoy and placed him un¬ 
der arrest and made him accompany me to the place 
where the body was found. I at this point turned 
him over to George Hendricks, a constable of Boone 
county, who had considerable trouble on account of 
mob violence in taking him to the county jail at 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 209 


Madison. I then found the shot gun shell near the 
body which no doubt was the one that contained the 
fatal charge that killed the colored lad. My next 
step was to measure tracks which led, to the body 
from the main road. These tracks when measured 
compared favorably with a No. 12 shoe, which Wil¬ 
liam McCoy wore, and I discovered from one print 
that the heel on the right shoe was missing. A search 
of McCoy’s home revealed the pair of shoes which 
he wore on the fishing trip and the right heel was 
missing. Upon these circumstances an indictment 
was made charging McCoy with the murder. The 
missing shoe heel connected the missing link in the 
chain of circumstances surrounding the killing. 

McCoy was tried at Madison, the county seat of 
Boone county and convicted of murder in the first 
degree and was given a sentence of fifteen years at 
hard labor. While being taken from the court 
house to the jail McCoy made this remark: “Clen- 
denen, I will serve my sentence and I will settle with 
you in full when it is over.” To this date this ac¬ 
count has never been settled and I hope it never will. 











Hestrictions Governing a Private Detective. 

The public may define the word “detective” little 
or much. It does not always mean that the man 
bearing that title is invested with special privileges, 
power or rights. The public is apt to classify all 
detectives under the head of special police officers. 
This is not a fact, as detectives are classified under 
several heads; that is, Federal, Police and Private. 
But it is not the purpose of this article to deal with 
the rights, duties, privileges and restrictions of but 
one class, the Private Detective. 

The private detective has no powers of arrest un¬ 
less deputized by some bonded officer to assist him in 
making an arrest. The above applies to all private 
detectives, even those operating under the well known 
bureaus such as the William J. Burns and Pinker¬ 
ton Agencies, as well as those belonging to local 
bureaus or acting as individuals. He is subject to 
the same restrictions that govern the ordinary citi¬ 
zen. He must conform to the same laws and is lia¬ 
ble for the infractions of those laws as though he 
were a private citizen, which in fact he is. It must 
also be remembered that the private detective has no 
legal standing as such, and being a member of a de¬ 
tective agency does not give him any authority to 
carry fire arms, make arrests, etc., unless armed with 
proper papers giving him the authority. (The above 
to conform with the laws of the State of West Vir¬ 
ginia.) 

He becomes liable if he restrains in any manner 
the personal liberty of any citizen. In West Vir¬ 
ginia and other states the law recognizes a few cases 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 211 

in which any citizen may make an arrest. These 
crimes are burglary, murder, and other felonies. In 
some states a bonded officer such as a constable or 
deputy sheriff, may enter a building forcibly if he 
first demands and is refused admittance, or in case 
of extreme emergency he may not make such de¬ 
mand, but the private detective has no such right 
and is himself liable to arrest if he forcibly enters 
a building unless armed with a warrant from the 
proper authorities. 

The law considers it a felony to compound one. 
The same law applies to a misdemeanor charge. 
Many private detectives and other officers purposely 
refrain from reporting a fraud and other charges 
for the purpose of gain, but, in doing so, it is dis¬ 
tinctly unlawful and makes them liable to arrest and 
prosecution. In the larger cities the private detective 
is called upon to make investigations where the police 
department is not at all interested. These charges 
are such as selling liquor, bribery, blackmailing, po¬ 
litical trickery and others of the same class. Making 
these investigations is the duty of the private de¬ 
tective. In a secret way he may aid in planning a 
crime, but must not take part in the actual commis¬ 
sion; he must not suggest a crime; he must not 
gather evidence under the false pretense that he is a 
regular constituted and bonded officer. He must at 
all times respect the rights of private citizens. 

The private detective who belongs to an agency 
must remember that principals are held responsible 
for their agent’s acts, and he must not over-step his 
powers, as by so doing he not only makes himself lia¬ 
ble, but also embroils and brings discredit upon his 


212 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


agency. He should also remember that an agent is 
held responsible for an act which brings loss or dis¬ 
credit to the firm which he represents. In case of 
violent and unlawful attack, the private detective 
may protect himself even to the extent of killing his 
assailant, but he must be able to prove that the kill¬ 
ing was done in self-defense. He must be careful 
not to provoke attack by threats or the use of force 
and he must not wilfully take part in any fray. 

Many of the states have laws governing the licens¬ 
ing and operation of such bureaus, but no state can 
confer special police power upon such bureaus. Spe¬ 
cial police powers, however, may be and often are 
conferred by county and city police authorities. 
Colorado has an especially severe license law requir¬ 
ing the applicant to give heavy bond and pay a 
yearly fee of fifty dollars. This however, applies 
only to the agencies. Georgia does not require a li¬ 
cense for the private detective, but has an Anti- 
Pinkerton Law which states that no police officer 
of the state may deputize a man who is not a resi¬ 
dent of the state, and no person may assume any po¬ 
lice powers, duties or privileges who has not re¬ 
ceived his appointment from a lawfully constituted 
authority. A violation of this act is a misdemeanor. 

A large number of states require no license for a 
private detective, but the very fact that they do not 
require a license is evidence of the fact that they do 
not give any privileges or immunity to men engaged 
in private detective work. In the following states 
the private detective is not required to take out a 
license: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, 
Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Kan- 


HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE 213 

sas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missis¬ 
sippi, Michigan, Montana, Missouri, Nevada, New 
Hampshire, New Mexico, Nebraska, Oregon, Ohio, 
Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee,' Texas, 
Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, 
Wisconsin and Wyoming. 

The states mentioned above have a severe law for 
the punishment of persons carrying concealed weap¬ 
ons and interfering with the business or private life 
of an individual by impersonating an officer. 

In conclusion, it must be understood that a pri¬ 
vate detective is not an officer of the law and has no 
right to make arrests or carry concealed weapons un¬ 
less he has a license or permission to do so from the 
proper authorities. He cannot be appointed and is 
not elected and has no official capacity at all; there¬ 
fore, the private detective is only a private agent 
and unofficial investigator. He only offers to the 
public his skill in investigation and detection, and 
his success is entirely dependent upon his own initi¬ 
ative. His great power is for good and if he suc¬ 
ceeds, he becomes a friend of society and an enemy 
of the evil-doer. As a general rule private detec¬ 
tives are intelligent, useful and law-abiding citizens. 
I take off my hat to those that are sincere, also for 
the good they have done and are doing. One curse of 
the private detective profession is the rank ama¬ 
teur, the badge flasher, the gun man and the ig¬ 
noramus who brings discredit upon those that are 
sincere and trying to do the right thing. To him, I 
say read this over again, study it thoroughly and 
make use of the information I give you for it is used 
here for your guidance. 


214 


CLENDENEN’ DETECTIVE MANUAL 


"With a few more remarks, I end my task. The 
great herd of mankind pass their lives in listless in¬ 
attention and indifference as to what is going on 
around them, but the detective who is alert does not 
allow anything to escape him; consequently I would 
say that the key to success in the detective game is 
observation and attention to seemingly little things. 
So many men fail to succeed as they are too ready 
to' imagine those cases wherein they might have 
shown their trustworthiness and integrity. The more 
minute and trivial opportunities of being just and 
up-right are constantly occurring to those engaged 
in the detective profession. 

Honesty, in this profession, as in all others, is the 
best policy, and bear in mind “that which ye sow, 
ye shall also reap.” 


THE END 




TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Page 

Introduction _ 5 

Chapter I.—The Detective Profession in Full_ 7 

Chapter II.—Preliminary Generalities_ 21 

Chapter III.—Elementary Principles_ 28 

Chapter IV.—Origin of Criminals_ 31 

Chapter V.—Methods and Procedure of the Pro¬ 
fession _ 40 

Chapter VI.—The House Man or Hotel De¬ 
tective _ 48 

Chapter VII.—Industrial Detective Work_ 52 

Chapter VIII.—Insurance Detectives_ 56 

Chapter IX.—Criminal Slang — Used by all 

Classes of Criminals_ 59 

Chapter X.—Scotland Yard Detectives_ 67 

Chapter XI.—Legal Phrases of Criminal and 

Civil Law_ 70 

Chapter XII.—Tricks of the Up-to-date Crook__ 77 

Chapter XIII.—Private Detectives_ 83 

Chapter XIV.—Description, or How to Describe 

Person Wanted_ 86 

Chapter XV.—Modern Methods of Detecting 

Crime _ 91 

Chapter XVI.—Proof of Positive Identifications 

—The Finger Print_ 95 

Jennings Case_ 95 

The Charles Crispi Case_ 97 

Flatbush Case___ 98 

Coppersmith Case - 99 

San Francisco Case_100 























STORY SECTION. 


Author’s Announcement _101 

Professional Bootlegging (1915-1921)_103 

Prohibition Amendment_113 

Webb-Kenyon Law _113 

Postal Regulations—Parcels Post_114 

Gunnoe Murder Case_116 

Strange Creek Case___120 

The Smith Gang, or the Lucky Thirteen_124 

A Railroad Theft_129 

Holly Griffith—West Virginia’s Most Noted 

Criminal _133 

The Confession_140 

A Moonlight Tragedy_148 

An Investigation I Feared_155 

Dan W. Cunningham and Some Stories from 

His Scrap-Book _159 

Dan Cunningham and His Slow Vengeance. 159 

Another Case from Cunningham’s Scrap- 

Book -168 

A Typical West Virginia Mountain Abode_174 

A Horrible Crime_176 

Confession of An Amateur Yegg_179 

Soldiers Turn Bandits_184 

The Confession_186 

A Peculiar Murder_190 






















Mat Jarrell—Holly Griffith No. 2_195 

Capture of Wayne County Desperadoes—Dan 
Cunningham’s Well Devised Plans Are Suc¬ 
cessful _199 

Vinson Shot Down_199 

Plans Well Laid for Arrest_201 

The Record of Joe Vinson_202 

The Capture of Robert Darrow, Alias “Big 
East” _205 

Missing Shoe Heel Convicts Murderer-207 

Restrictions Governing a Private Detective_210 

Advertisements _218-219 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Rufus H. Clendenen_ 3 

Stills—Products of West Virginia Mountains_109 

Holly Griffith, alias P. S. Rose_135 

Check—One of Holly Griffith’s Forgeries-145 

Dan W. Cunningham_161 

Pine-Beech Hill, Home of Dan W. Cunning 
ham _165 

Log Cabin—Pioneer Home of Maben, West Vir¬ 
ginia _175 

A Horrible Crime-177 

W. M. Thomas _191 




















CLENDENEN 
DETECTIVE SYSTEM 



ESTABLISHED 1900 
LADY ATTENDANT IN OFFICE 



RUFUS H. CLENDENEN, Principal 
22 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE 

801i KANAWHA ST. 
CHARLESTON, WEST VA. 


No commissions or badges sold. 

Reliable service in all branches of legitimate de¬ 
tective work, finger print cases and dictagraph work 
a specialty. 






Commercial, industrial, criminal and civil detective 
work, adjustments, inquiries, investigations, informa¬ 
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We furnish nothing but expert operatives—male 
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We cater to high grade business only. We do not 
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We can furnish best of reference. 

Careful reasoning—through probing and a com¬ 
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We are prepared to do service for banks, coal 
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We have correspondents in all principal cities. 

Efficiency, Reliability, Promptness. 

Correspondence solicited. Consultation free. 


NOTICE 

This Manual sent prepaid to any address for $2.00. 
CLENDENEN DETECTIVE SYSTEM 
Lock Box 239 

CHARLESTON, WEST VA. 














































































































































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